Exclusive: Female bystander alleges attack in her yard by Fort Worth police dog

Regina Allen becomes visibly shaken when she starts to speak about what happened in her yard on April 12. 

She said Fort Worth police were on Purington Avenue searching for someone on the ground and in the air. The 50-year-old wife, mother and grandmother said when she went to alert officers about the mental state of an elderly neighbor, she suddenly found herself in pain.

"I saw a flash of fur and next thing I know I was on the ground," Allen said.

The surveillance system at her home captured Allen walking down her steps out of the edge of her yard, pointing. There is no audio. As quickly as she points in the video, Allen raises both hands in the air, but it does not stop a dog from leaping onto her left shoulder. In the video, she falls down.

"I was screaming for help. The officers couldn't even get him off," she said.

Her son, who is also on the video, and the police make their way over to the Fort Worth woman, where it's hard to see what happens in the next minute or so in the video.

"I stayed still and calm because it was ripping back and forth on the back of my arm and I didn't want more damage," Allen said. "And all I could hear was screaming, not just my screaming, the police screaming. They were all trying to get the dog and it wasn't listening."

The timestamp on the video shows police were in the neighborhood before Allen took her first stop off her porch at 9:21 p.m. Allen said the K-9's sharp teeth on her left shoulder were unyielding to any word or command.

"So, from what I do understand, they had to use a baton to either jab it in the throat or stick it in its mouth to get it finally off of me. And it was just torture," she said.

Her husband, Thomas Fisher, said he was sleeping for an early morning shift when he woke up to a nightmare.

"When somebody tells you your wife just got attacked by a police dog, that's one thing you just don't, you don't expect," Fisher said.

His wife was rushed to the hospital with nine puncture wounds when the dog finally let go. They she got 19 stitches on Sunday night, only to return to the hospital five days later, infected and septic.

The couple said they left the scene with no true sense of what provoked the attack.

"The only thing I got out of him was admission that he thought he had the dog on a leash and didn't. But kind of really no sympathy, no kind of apology that I heard," Fisher said.

CBS News Texas asked Fort Worth Police to provide basic information about their April 12 presence on Purington Avenue, share if a suspect was apprehended, and provide the policy for K-9 officers. Officers directed us to their records department, where a basic report shows an injured person at Allen's address at midnight.

"Unfortunately, in a situation like this, we're left with more questions than answers," Blerim Elmazi said.

The couple hired Blerim and Ardian Elmazi, but there is no lawsuit. The attorneys have sought access to public information content, like body cameras. They said their request has been forwarded to the Attorney General's Office for review.

"I think the law regarding police canines hasn't really caught up with the law surrounding ordinary canines in terms of liability," Elmazi said.

The couple has also filed an internal affairs complaint about the incident. They said it's the only time they've spoken to someone from Fort Worth since the incident happened.

"Radio silence. And we honestly don't even know if that dog and that handler are still working," Allen said.

Her granddaughter knew she would be speaking with CBS News Texas. She sent grandma with "Tigey," the bobcat, part of a stuffed animal collection Allen buys when they go to the zoo.

Her time in Fort Worth may be on the clock. Allen wants to start over because she said the memories are fresh and painful.