Boy Scout stabs, kills pit bulls attacking beagle
by Ryn Gargulinski on Sep. 09, 2008, under Local, Special
Moses Diodati (left), 16, holds his knife as he sits with Jeff Dolph and Jeff's beagle, Belle, on Monday. The boys were walking Belle on Thursday when she was attacked by two pit bulls.
Boy Scout Andrew Diodati, 16, always carries a pocket knife for tasks such as opening boxes or removing splinters.
He never thought he’d have to use it to kill two pit bulls.
Diodati, known by his middle name, Moses, was out walking Thursday night with his friend 15-year-old Jeff Dolph and the Dolph family’s beagle, Belle.
The Northwest Side Hartman Vista subdivision was quiet as usual when the teens saw two pit bulls approach on Copperhead Street.
“At first they were just sniffing and circling the dog,” Diodati said. “Then they started attacking Belle.”
Diodati and Dolph began punching and kicking at the pit bulls, but the dogs would not release the 2-year-old beagle.
“I was kicking one pit bull so hard that all four of its feet were in the air,” Diodati said, “but it still wouldn’t let go.”
He said that’s when Dolph started to panic and the boys realized the dogs would not give up until Belle was dead.
Diodati pulled out his 4-inch folding knife.
“I was hesitant at first,” Diodati said. “It was an intense thing. But Belle was going to die.”
He said he began stabbing the more aggressive pit bull, a brown one, first under the ribs and then slicing at its throat.
When it began to falter, Diodati stepped on its head. Only in death did it let go of Belle.
He stabbed the second dog, a white one, about three times until it ran off. Authorities later found it dead.
“There was just blood everywhere,” said Diodati’s mother, Melissa Diodati. She ran to the scene after a phone call from her son.
Belle was rushed to the vet and is recovering slowly, said Dolph’s dad, Johnny Ray Dolph.
“The vet said they lost count of how many stitches she needed,” he said. “I started counting the staples and lost count at 50.”
The bill came to $1,100.
Belle’s legs were injured the most. Her neck was spared thanks to a thick collar. She is getting stronger and no longer limping. One pit bull bit Dolph on the knee, resulting in a deep puncture wound.
“It cut through his muscle,” his dad said. “It was so deep when (doctors) irrigated it, the fluid filled inside his knee.
“Both boys’ hands were purple and swollen. They needed X-rays. Their shoes were wrecked. Their pants were ripped. This is the most traumatic thing we’ve ever been through. Jeffrey’s had trouble sleeping.”
The family awaits test results from the Pima Animal Care Center to find out if Jeff Dolph will need anti-rabies shots.
“I think it was pretty heroic and pretty unbelievable and pretty crazy,” the elder Dolph said. He is also grateful.
“Usually my younger daughter walks Belle,” he said. “It was divine intervention that the boys took her out that day.”
Diodati’s family is also proud of his quick action, yet sad it had to happen.
Neither the Diodatis nor the Dolphs know the pit bulls’ owner, who lives in the neighborhood.
Efforts to reach the Pima Animal Care Center for comment were unsuccessful.
Diodati’s classmates at Mountain View High School have had mixed reactions. He said responses ranged from, “That’s gnarly” to nonchalance.
“Some say, ‘You killed two pit bulls? So what? I’m on the football team.’”
