NEWSLETTER

See all articles by this contributor

CHRIS NIERATKO - SECTION 1

A GIRL WHO GOT HER FACE FUCKED UP REALLY BADLY BY A DOG
by Chris Nieratko

Photo by Seth Bedell

Vice: You used to be a model?

Sarah Bedell: I’ve done modeling. There’s an agency in Hawaii that I worked for and I’ve done some small commercials. I did stunts on Baywatch. I had a one-page in Playboy.

So what is your story with the dog attack?

We were living in the Caribbean on St. John and we were invited over to some friends’ house for dinner. They were acquaintances, really. We didn’t know them well, but there weren’t that many people to hang out with there. Plus we were kind of on the fence about going because we didn’t like their dog. But they told us the dog wouldn’t be there. We didn’t like their dog because when our dog was a puppy, theirs tried to rough it up. You could just tell this animal wasn’t good. It was a German shepherd. We had heard other people saying that this dog would growl at them. Lots of people were scared of this animal.

So we get there and we see this dog patrolling the house. I said to my husband, “Seth, can you ask them what the fuck the dog is doing here?” Seth gets out of the car and he’s like, “I thought you guys said that he was not here.” They said, “Oh, he must have gotten out. But he’s fine. He recently got fixed and he’s not aggressive anymore. Don’t worry about it.” The guy picked up a stick and started playing fetch with the dog to try and distract him while we got our stuff out of our car. While he’s throwing the stick, his girlfriend leads us into this house. I’m walking behind her and Seth is behind me carrying a box of food. We walked through this arched doorway into an unfinished kitchen and as soon as I stepped through the door the dog had come in through a different way. I didn’t even see him coming—he came from behind, got on his hind legs, and just latched onto my face.

His one canine went through my cheek and the other one, his top canine, wrapped around the top of my brow bone. He wouldn’t let go. He had me pinned up against the wall and the woman was screaming and Seth was kicking the dog in the ribs as hard as he could. Then the dog owner grabbed its hind legs and literally ripped him off my face. That’s why the cut kind of horseshoes around my eye.

After they pulled him off of me they gave me a roll of paper towels. Seth and I got in the car and drove to the only little hole-in-the-wall medical center there was near there. This Filipino doctor was on staff. She didn’t know what to do with me, so she started giving me morphine.

What was the state of your face at that point?

The horseshoe around my eye had actually come down and flopped over. There was a big gash in my cheek.

How long did the actual attack take?

How long was the dog locked onto my face? It felt quick cause I blanked out. I remember coming through the door and then I remember the fucking asshole whose dog it was giving me a roll of paper towels that was dirty. Then I remember thinking, “Fuck you.”As we were driving down the driveway we heard gunshots. They killed the dog.

How many surgeries have you had since?

I’m going in for number four soon. The first surgery took eight hours. The first two actually made it look worse and my doctor explained to me that it was going to be a process he calls “tweaking and fine tuning.” He’s like, “You’re not gonna be happy after the first couple of surgeries because things get swollen and scar tissue builds. But I’m setting everything up like playing pool. I am setting up my shots so I can get the ball in the pocket on the final one.” It’s definitely amazing what he’s done. It’s going to be 90 percent better. You can still see some purple scars around my eye and there’s a little bit of webbing in the corner where there was that deep cut. But he thinks the webbing will go away after this last time.

Are you over dogs as a result?

I have extreme anxiety around German shepherds, but I still love dogs. I’ve had big dogs my whole life. But I’m definitely not as trusting now, especially with my kid. I don’t ever let him go up and pet a random dog.


CONTINUED
CHRIS NIERATKO - SECTION ONE | 1 | 2 | 3 | >

< PREV

MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

NEXT >

POST A COMMENT [SIGN IN] Hi, in case you haven't heard, you can now sign up to become a "member" of Viceland.com, which entitles you to all sorts of amazing benefits like pictures and a nickname. Click here to make your own profile. You can still comment if you don't, but you gotta do it all 'nonymously.

Name:
Comment: