Man bites dog in South End fray

By Globe Staff

"Man bites dog" – it’s usually the other way around. But it happened early Tuesday morning in the South End, when a man was struggling with a pit bull that had suddenly turned vicious.

David Prignano bit the pit bull in a desperate attempt to free another dog that the pit bull had in its jaws.

"He didn’t know what else to do. … He just bit her sort of on top of the head," said Prignano's partner, Dan Forrester, who was injured in the incident.

Forrester, 53, said Prignano was trying to force the pit bull's jaws open with his hands to free the other dog's head and "he didn't have any weapons left" so he had to use his teeth.

Prignano, 50, told WHDH-TV, "I got her mouth open, which is pretty unbelievable because their jaws lock. But I was biting her and I pulled open her mouth. He got his head out."

The incident ended with the pit bull shot by police and Forrester hospitalized for numerous wounds to his leg. The dog that was attacked turned out not to be injured, and Prignano only received minor injuries. He was out of town on a business trip today.

Forrester, in a telephone interview from his hospital room, said the couple, who have two pugs, were dogsitting the pit bull for a friend when it went haywire in their fashion design studio on Wareham Street, grabbing one of the pugs by the neck and attacking Forrester.

Forrester said the two men had taken care of the pit bull before and had not had any problems, though the animal recently had shown some signs of aggression.

"It breaks my heart, because she was a beautiful animal and I loved the dog like I love my own dogs. … I think she got confused," he said.

Police have said they were called at around 12:08 a.m. and the officer shot the dog when it approached him. The officer’s firing of his gun is being investigated.

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