Father Killed While Protecting 5-Year-Old Daughter From Dog Attack: Police

Father Killed While Protecting 5-Year-Old Daughter From Dog Attack: Police
A father has died while protecting his 5-year-old daughter during a dog attack on May 31, 2019. (Deidre Ann Bible/GoFundMe)
Janita Kan
6/4/2019
Updated:
6/4/2019

An Iowa father’s actions saved his 5-year-old daughter’s life from a dog attack on May 31 but had cost him his life, according to police.

The tragic incident occurred at a home in Fort Madison. Police said in a statement they were called to the scene of the attack in the morning where they found a large dog attacking a man who was lying on his back on the grass in the front yard.

According to authorities, the dog was acting aggressively had refused to let go of the man, Robert Joseph Quick, prompting police to fire their gun to stop the attack.

While officers tried to stop the dog, they also noticed his 5-year-old daughter suffering from injuries caused by the dog attack. The child had been bitten on the face but had survived.

“Quick had defended his daughter and undoubtedly saved her life by his actions,” the statement said.

Police said EMT had gone through “tremendous effort” to save Quick on the scene but was unsuccessful. He later died in Fort Madison hospital. According to a family GoFundMe account, Quick had suffered a heart attack at the scene by the time medical personnel found him.

The family is currently raising money on the crowdfunding website for Quick’s funeral. As of the time of this publication, the family had reached its goal of  $6,000.

According to police, the dog did not belong to any of the victims but was kept at the home for another family member. The species of dog was also not identified.

Police are investigating the incident and determining the exact cause of death as they wait for the autopsy results.

Dog Attack in Texas

In a similar case, a 33-year-old woman from Texas was killed after being mauled by her two pet pit bulls at an Irving veterinary facility in March this year.
Johana Villafane was attacked while attending to her two dogs in an outside exercise area at the O’Connor Animal Hospital in Irving, police told WFAA.
“The dogs were involved in an incident earlier in the month in which they bit someone,” said Irving PD Officer David Dickinson, as reported by Fox4. “They were here at the animal hospital being quarantined per regulations.”
Deputies were called to the veterinary facility to assist paramedics responding to “reports of a woman in need of medical attention,” Irving Police said in a news release on Facebook.

The animal hospital staff called 911 saying a woman had been seriously injured in a dog attack. Both paramedics and staff were prevented to give medical treatment to the woman due to the aggressive behavior of the pit bull terriers.

“They were unable to retrieve her to give her any medical attention because of the animals,” Irving Police officer David Dickinson told WFAA.

The aggressive dogs also kept the responding officers at bay until one of the deputies shot them both dead. Police said, “Due to the dogs continued aggression, an officer discharged his duty weapon, striking and killing both dogs.”

“I don’t believe that [the officer who shot the dogs] had a choice,” Dickinson told WFAA. “His job is to intervene to safeguard human life, and that’s what he attempted to do.”

The victim was taken to Parkland Hospital with life-threatening injuries, where she later died, according to Fox4.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.