Two pit bulls attack, seriously injure man outside his home in Plymouth

Two pit bulls attacked and seriously injured a man’s face late at night this week outside his home in Plymouth, officials said Thursday.

The incident occurred about 12:20 a.m. Tuesday in the 15300 block of 60th Avenue N., police said. A close friend identified the victim as 45-year-old Emil Mammadov.

Officers and emergency medical responders arrived at the scene and gave aid to the man before an ambulance took him to North Memorial Health Hospital, according to police.

The officers went to a home nearby and found the two dogs responsible for the attack, police said.

The dogs’ owner was identified, and the animals were seized and remain in quarantine in “a secure police facility” in Maple Grove, a statement from police read. A facility staff member identified the dogs to the Star Tribune as pit bulls.

Charges have yet to be filed; “however, this is still an active investigation,” said Plymouth police spokeswoman Karen Anderson, who declined to identify the dogs’ owner.

Mammadov’s friend Nadia Roife said the dogs were from a home nearby. “One of the dogs aimed for Emil’s throat. … The dogs bit off … a large piece of skin underneath his right eye. We are all lucky that Emil is alive!” His wife, Ilaha Mammadova, rescued him, Roife wrote in an online fundraiser.

A follow-up posting said Mammadov has undergone surgery that included facial skin grafting and “is doing well.” The update included two photos of him in his hospital bed, with the right side of his face heavily bandaged. Roife said Mammadov has since left the hospital and is recovering at home.

Roife said Mammadov works as a catering chef specializing in traditional Azerbaijani cuisine and is the primary income earner for his family, which includes four daughters.