When Clint Kell first laid eyes on Mae Butts, 76, last month, she was sitting on a southwest Denver sidewalk with two big dogs jumping on her. At first, Kell thought the elderly woman was playing with her pets.
But as soon as he saw her bloodied arms, legs and clothing and heard her screams, he realized she was being viciously mauled.
Kell stopped his car and raced to the woman as she struggled to stop the boxers from grabbing her neck.
“Her right arm was bloody from trying to fight them off,” Kell said.
Today, Butts is slowly recovering from her wounds, relatives said. The woman who enjoyed daily, 3-mile walks near her home is now confined to a wheelchair.
On Tuesday, Clint Kell was credited with saving Butts’ life. Denver Fire Chief Larry Trujillo presented him with a civilian-citation certificate and other gifts during a ceremony at Fire Department headquarters.
“I’ve been bitten by a dog,” Trujillo said. “It’s very painful, and it takes a very special person to intervene. It was an heroic effort.”
Kell’s parents live in the neighborhood where the dogs attacked Butts, and he had taken the day off from his job as owner of a Denver painting company.
Wearing a T-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes, Kell charged the dogs and kicked them off the woman.
Kell ripped off his shirt and made a tourniquet for her badly bleeding leg, where a fist-sized chunk of flesh had been torn from the calf.
Kell, who said he’s never had first- aid training, lifted the woman’s legs up and placed them on his shoulder in an attempt to keep blood flowing to her heart.
Then he dialed 911.
“This is bad,” Kell thought. “She’s going into shock.”
As the young man and Butts waited for help to arrive, the dogs returned and attacked again.
“She was freaked out,” Kell said. “‘Please don’t leave me, please don’t leave me,’ she pleaded.”
Kell kicked the dogs as hard as he could, and again they ran off.
At that point, a neighbor stopped to help, he said.
Shortly after the attack, one dog was captured by Denver Animal Control officers, and the second dog was caught several days later.
Both animals tested negative for rabies, were quarantined and then euthanized. The dogs had a long history of attacks on people when they lived in unincorporated Jefferson County, according to Doug Kelley, director of the Denver Division of Animal Care and Control.
The boxers also had previously chased people in Butts’ neighborhood, Kelley said.
Butts suffered multiple bites on her arms and legs and lost the tip of one finger. A scheduled surgery was canceled because her wounds are not healing properly, according to Sandra Geiger, a paralegal whose law firm was hired to represent her.
“She’s having nightmares about those dogs,” Geiger said.
The dog’s owner, Todd Eckart, was charged with two counts each of violating Denver’s leash law that resulted in dog bites and for failing to spay, neuter and vaccinate his pets.
Staff writer Annette Espinoza can be reached at 303-820-1655 or aespinoza@denverpost.com.
