Af­ter years of pro­tect­ing cit­i­zens, a re­tired po­lice con­sta­ble is now re­cov­er­ing from a bat­tle that near­ly cost him his life—an at­tack by a pit­bull out­side his Clax­ton Bay home.

O’Neil Sookoo fought back tears yes­ter­day as he re­called the ter­ri­fy­ing mo­ment the dog mauled him on Sat­ur­day night. De­spite his in­juries, he man­aged to save both him­self and his wife, Sher­ry.

Speak­ing at his Cedar Hill Road home, Sookoo said he re­turned around 9.45 pm with his fam­i­ly and sent them in­side ahead of him. As he walked up the dri­ve­way, a neigh­bour’s dogs be­gan bark­ing and run­ning to­ward him.