St. Petersburg woman critically injured by dog she rescued

ST. PETERSBURG — Four years ago, Robert Jacks and his wife, Patricia Thiel, rescued a stray dog.

The Labrador-pit bullterrier mix was about 2 years old and had wandered onto the golf course where Jacks works. It was afraid of people. They couple figured it had been abused.

The two dog lovers named it Jake and worked to rehabilitate it. It became part of the family and often would sleep on the couple's bed.

But on Thursday afternoon, something went wrong.

Authorities say Jake fiercely attacked Thiel, a 39-year-old nurse at All Children's Hospital, shortly after 2 p.m., in their fenced-in back yard in Lakewood Estates.

A neighbor coming to Thiel's aid shot and killed the 100-pound dog.

When it was over, Thiel was in critical condition with wounds to her arms, head and neck. Doctors were in surgery late Thursday night working to save her right arm.

Her husband, the golf course superintendent at the St. Petersburg Country Club, spent the night at Tampa General Hospital, trying to fathom why Jake had turned on his wife.

"He was a sweet dog. We don't know what happened," the 43-year-old said. "I'm in shock. It's sad all the way around."

• • •

Joseph Wharton was in his home relaxing after work when he heard the screams.

Seconds later, his daughter burst through the door. A dog was attacking a woman outside, she said.

Then Wharton, a lawn service company owner, heard a neighbor screaming.

"Everybody was panicking. Then a lady yelled 'Doesn't anybody have a gun?' " he said. "That's when I knew it was serious."

The 48-year-old grabbed his 9mm Ruger and ran outside. He crossed the street to 2012 Bonita Way S and looked over the fence.

"He was right on top of the girl," he said. "She said, 'shoot him! Shoot him!' "

Wharton fired into the ground, but the dog just looked up at him and went right back to the attack, he said.

Wharton tried again, telling Thiel to move to the side.

Two shots later, Jake was dead.

Thiel was taken to Bayfront Medical Center and was transferred to Tampa General Hospital for emergency surgery on her right arm, which had the most damage.

"Her arm looked like something out of a zombie movie," said Wharton's 26-year-old son, Josh. "I saw so much blood on her I was afraid to touch her."

Wharton will not face charges, St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt said.

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Jacks, who returned home from a doctor's appointment just in time to see his wife being loaded into an ambulance, said he has no idea what could have made Jake snap.

He said his wife may have walked in on Jake fighting with the couple's other dogs and tried to get involved. Or maybe something else set the dog off.

The couple have four other dogs besides Jake. Two of them — both pit bulls — also were in the back yard, but police said they were not involved in the attack.

Pinellas County Animal Services impounded three dogs and Jake's body on Thursday. A fifth dog, which Jacks said was a small hound he'd recently rescued, ran off in the commotion and had not been found by late Thursday night.

Animal Services will keep the dogs for now as it investigates, officials said Thursday.

Jacks said he hopes authorities will have compassion and eventually return the couple's other dogs.

"It was a freak thing. Jake was the one who attacked, and Jake paid the price," he said. "I'm just hoping for the best for Patty."

Times photographer Lara Cerri contributed to this report. Kameel Stanley can be reached at kstanley@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8643.