Northwest

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Saturday, July 5, 2008 Centralia man attacked while trying to save puppy Associated Press CENTRALIA -- A 39-year-old man who tried to stop another man from beating a puppy was attacked with a chain and pelted with rocks, winding up in a hospital, a Lewis County sheriff's spokesperson said. The victim told sheriff's deputies he saw a stranger choking and beating a black lab-mix puppy with a chain Thursday and yelled at him to stop. The man with the puppy reportedly replied that it was his dog and continued hurting the animal. The verbal dispute escalated and the man with the puppy began hitting the 39-year-old Centralia man on the legs with the chain. Al Hoodrow lives nearby and witnessed the attack. "The guy takes his dog chain and starts swirling it around in circles and hitting the man with the chain," he told KOMO-TV of Seattle. "You could hear it going 'swshhh-whap! Swshhh-whap!' (He was) wrapping him hard with it." The puppy's defender jumped away and called 911 on his cell phone. The attacker fled, but returned with a slingshot before deputies arrived and began pelting the victim with rocks, hitting him in the neck and shoulder. "(He) was shooting him with the slingshot and after that, he grabbed a big rock and smacked the guy in the back and laid him down in the concrete," Hoodrow said. After being hit with the large rock, "the victim (later) told police he could not feel his legs and was subsequently transported to Providence Hospital in Centralia by ambulance," Sgt. Stacy Brown said. The injured man, who was not identified, was reported in satisfactory condition. Deputies chased after the attacker. Victor Esparza-Hernandez, 44, of Centralia, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for investigation of second-degree assault. Brown said the puppy is all right and was returned to his owner, a friend of the arrested man.

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