‘I got lucky’: Neighbors jump in to save man from dog attack during walk

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) – A North Carolina Army engineer remains hospitalized after a dog attack.

Despite the severity of the attack, the man is thankful that neighbors came running to his aid.

“After looking at the damage done to my leg, I got lucky,” U.S. Army D.O.D Engineer Brandon Webster said. “We got away with just that. It could have been so much worse without those two neighbors there.”

Webster credits his neighbors’ quick thinking with saving his life Wednesday morning.

“I was walking my purebred good boy Luke up the street, and in the distance, I see two Rottweilers, and it was kind of… a little alarming. So me and Luke go ahead and cross the street well ahead of time, you know, stay out of danger,’ Webster said.

Within seconds, both dogs latched onto Webster’s leg and turned on his two-year-old German shepherd, Luke.

“The other dogs had him pinned down, and they’re biting him,” Webster said. “So I kind of jumped on my dog, embraced him and was punching the dogs off him.”

Without a second thought, Sgt. 1st Class Phillip Hubbard, who was on his way to take his children to school, spun his car around to help.

“You could definitely see there were some puncture wounds on his leg,” Hubbard said.

An Army engineer is recovering from injuries suffered in a dog attack. (WTVD, BRENDAN WEBSTER, SGT. 1ST CLASS PHILLIP HUBBARD, CNN)

With 17 years of military experience, Hubbard quickly grabbed his uniform belt and turned it into a makeshift leash to restrain the dog.

“I made a little noose out of it, and then the dog’s head went in and set it up, and then I just held the dog out like that for, you know, half an hour, 45 minutes or so,” he said.

The severity of Webster’s injuries has left him temporarily in a wheelchair.

“So I have 20-some staples in my calf right now where everything was pulled and pulled out,” he said.

But Webster’s deeply grateful that his neighbors stepped up without hesitation.

“Thank you. I couldn’t have done anything except sit there and take the beating we were getting. Crawled up in a little ball with my dog. So there’s nothing I could have done without them,” he said.

Webster is on the road to recovery, while his dog Luke got stitches and is also recovering.

One of the two attacking Rottweilers was returned to its owner. The other remains with animal control for now.

Copyright 2026 WTVD via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.

For more national news, click here.