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Boy, 11, Saves Mother When Bulldogs Attack

 

COLTON (CBS) — A boy used his skateboard to rescue his mother as she was being attacked by two vicious bulldogs in Colton.

"I smacked it, and then I smacked it on the ground and then they backed away," said Anthony Rodriguez, as he showed how he swung his skateboard to hit the dogs.

Rodriguez and his mother were walking down a residential street in Colton when two American bulldogs broke through a couple fences and came rushing at them.

The dogs attacked the boy's mother, Gina Palumbo, biting her chest and leg.

Bulldog Attack
Anthony Rodriguez, 11, fought off two bulldogs with a skateboard after they broke through a fence and began mauling his mother on the sidewalk. (credit: CBS)

"They bit my leg and ripped it open pretty good," Palumbo said.

As the dogs attacked her, Palumbo said she was more worried about her children's safety.

"My little girl and my little man, I was just worried about them," Palumbo said. "I told [my son], 'Stay away!'"

The precocious 11--year-old instead felt compelled to protect his mother.

He started swinging his skateboard, first striking the ground to scare the dogs with the sound. When that didn't work Rodriguez starting smacking the board into the bulldogs until they backed off.

The two dogs have been quarantined. Authorities have cited the owners for having unlicensed dogs and breaking the leash law.

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