REALITY TV
TV
MOVIES
MUSIC
CELEBRITY
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Accuracy & Fairness Corrections & Clarifications Ethics Code Your Ad Choices
© MEAWW All rights reserved
MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

88-year-old Army vet hailed as a hero after he used Christmas 'toy soldier' to save 10-year-old girl from horrific pit bull attack

Leonard Miller was at his residence when he heard screams followed by desperate pounding on his front door. When Miller opened the door, a 13-year-old girl, who is a neighbor of his, told him their family pit bull was attacking her 10-year-old sister.
UPDATED FEB 13, 2020
(Source: Getty Images)
(Source: Getty Images)

An 88-year-old Army veteran became a local hero after he fought off a pit bull that was attacking his 10-year-old neighbor in Perry Township, Ohio.

Leonard Miller was at his residence when he heard screams followed by desperate pounding on his front door. When Miller opened the door, a 13-year-old girl, who is a neighbor of his, told him their family pitbull was attacking her 10-year-old sister, Cleveland 19 reports.

And so the 88-year-old sprang into action. With the sheer presence of mind, he grabbed a 3-foot-tall plastic toy soldier -- meant to be a Christmas decoration -- and stormed into his neighbor's residence.

As soon as Miller entered the home, he saw the pit bull biting on the 10-year-old girl's upper arm. The veteran subsequently began hitting the pit bull with the toy soldier.

“It had her and was just shaking her and growling, and I hit the dog, I don’t know how many times, but it didn’t faze that dog, didn’t faze it,” Miller told Cleveland 19. “So I got it and started to hit it on the back several times and it released the little girl."

According to Miller, the girls ran out of the home immediately after. However, he chose to carefully back out of the house to ensure the dog did not attack him.

Miller then alerted the authorities and called an ambulance. He was caught off guard when responding paramedics told him he had saved the young girl and called him a hero. "I don’t like to be called a hero,” Miller said.

While the Army veteran, who served in the Korean War, might disagree, he had actually stepped into a dangerous situation and made it better.

According to Miller, neighbors had told him doctors were able to save the girl's arm and that she was going to be OK.

That said, it is still unclear as to what happened to the pit bull.

POPULAR ON MEAWW
MORE ON MEAWW