Victim in stable condition after emerging from induced coma

By ALEXANDER SIMONE

Staff writer

A Peabody man savagely mauled in the face and throat by a dog that would not release its grip emerged from a medically induced coma Sunday and was coherent and in stable condition.

The Thursday incident at 802 N. Olive St. left 51-year-old Kent Anderson with facial injuries too severe for him to be identified at the scene.

His nephew, Jason Anderson, was living at the same address and owned the dog, named Louie.

Jason’s friend, Jarred Weems, was sleeping on a couch at the time and was one of the first to hear a commotion.

“I woke up that morning to hear the other two dogs barking,” he said. “I went out to check what was going on because Louie would usually be wrapped around a tree, barking his head off.”

Instead, he found Kent on the ground with Louie latched onto his neck. It took Jason and Weems together to pull the dog off, which was shot twice and killed by Peabody police.

“I turned my back, closed my eyes, and plugged my ears, but something like that you can’t unhear,” he said.

The only previous incident Weems was aware of was three weeks prior when the dog jumped on Kent while playing and gave him a bloody lip.

“There was a bit of history between the two,” Weems said. “As far as I saw, the dog never showed aggression to me outside of, ‘Hey, I’m here,’ — the normal stuff.”

The odds of the dog having rabies were low because it had shots two months before, Weems said.

“I think it’s more the case that something between the dog and Kent happened when no one else was around,” Weems said.

Peabody police chief Bruce Burk, who shot the dog, said he was unaware of any provocation

The dog was on a leash at the time, Weems said.

Kent was flown to Wichita by helicopter, which landed on the practice field in front of Peabody-Burns High School.

Shelli Rehmert, who was nearby, applied pressure to Kent’s wounds and likely saved his life, Weems said.

“If it weren’t for them walking by about the time we got the dog off Kent, I don’t think he’d be alive,” he said.

Peabody and Marion ambulances and the emergency medical services director all responded to the call.

Peabody ambulance had to be briefly taken out of service afterward to clean away blood from the wounds.