Eric D. Lawrence

Detroit Free Press

The victim of a near-fatal dog mauling on Detroit's east side earlier this month was helping the owner feed his dogs when they attacked, but told police that the man didn't help him as the animals tore into him.

When Steve Constantine, 50, was asked by police what the owner, 61-year-old Derrick (Butch) Felton, did as the pit bulls and pit bull mixes attacked, he said: "I don't know. I think he ran away."

Felton told police he could not help, saying, "EMS came, so I left."

However, emergency workers at the scene could not immediately attend to Constantine because the dogs were in a frenzy and had him pinned to the ground. Instead, they blew the horn in their rig until police arrived and shot at the dogs, killing one.

The statements, which were taken in police interviews and provided to the Free Press on Friday, fill in missing details about the Oct. 2 attack, but they conflict with initial reports that the dogs had somehow escaped through a side door in their home.

In fact, both described how Constantine was walking on Pennsylvania Street, saw Felton outside and asked to help with the feeding before, according to Constantine, "the dogs started attacking and eating me alive."

Police have said 12 dogs were involved in the attack at some point, although by the time officers arrived, five to seven were there. Constantine said he thought six or eight were involved.

Police have asked prosecutors to approve a felony charge of harboring a vicious animal causing serious injury against Felton, who previously received five misdemeanor citations. Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, said a decision is still pending.

The Sam Bernstein Law Firm, which is representing Constantine, is planning to file a lawsuit today in Wayne County Circuit Court against Felton and his mother, Elizabeth Collins Felton, who owns the home.

Attorney Mark Bernstein said the firm is suing Felton's mother because landlords "who allow irresponsible, reckless tenants to engage in these types of behaviors" should assume some responsibility for what happens in the homes they own.

"We're going to ask for a meaningful amount of damages in order to send a message that these people need to be held accountable," Bernstein said.

It was apparently no mystery that the dogs were vicious, even to Constantine.

"They bark and growl a lot, sometimes Butch will hit them or not feed them for a long time," Constantine said in his statement.

Felton, who also noted that the dogs would bark and growl, told police he feeds his dogs "when I can ... dog food, or whatever they can eat."

After the attack, Felton asked police why they were taking his dogs, which have since been euthanized.

That concern infuriated Constantine's sister, Cathy Hawley, of Shelby Township.

"Who would put an animal's life above a human being? I don't know," she said.

Hawley said she wants Felton to pay a price for what has happened.

"This guy who raised these dogs to kill, to be in a pack like that … he must be held accountable for what he did to my brother. This was a time bomb waiting to go off. This was inevitable," she said.

Felton has been unreachable for comment.

Constantine is now able to speak, but he remains at Detroit Receiving Hospital, having gone through at least five surgeries; doctors told his family to expect at least 35 more.

"The obstacles that Steve is going to face are beyond imagination," Hawley said.

Constantine lost most of his left arm; a portion of his left leg, which was amputated; his right arm was opened to the bone, and damage to the right foot will require doctors to fuse it to the ankle, Hawley said. The bite marks are too numerous to count.

Hawley is still trying to process what has happened to her brother, the youngest of six children.

Constantine was born and raised Warren, and had struggled in his adult life after showing early promise in school, graduating with honors from Mott High School. He worked for a time in restaurants as a prep cook and in construction.

He was "articulate about everything. He was just an amazing human being, very bright, very smart," she said.

But mental illness gripped Constantine in his 20s, when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and hospitalized for a time, Hawley said.

Constantine had been missing for a year when he was attacked, and Hawley said she does not know how he ended up in Detroit, although she can speculate.

"Steve would give you the shirt off of his back. He was taken advantage of a lot," she said. "The bottom line, Steve was a very passive adult who was very, very happy-go-lucky."

Hawley learned of the attack after she was contacted by a Free Press reporter a week after the attack. She called the nurses' station at the hospital in tears and they held the phone up for her brother, who had initially been considered a John Doe.

"I said, 'Steve, this is (Cathy). I love you. I'm coming,'" she recounted. "He said, 'That's good. I need you.' "

The future is what scares Hawley the most, and she said the family is praying for a miracle. Her brother needs constant care and will need assistance for the rest of his life. Constantine is also in "horrific" pain, but the toll of the attack goes beyond the physical, she said.

"He's afraid to be alone. He'll look at the stump that was his arm or his leg and turn away and grimace ... He'll say, 'I'm a mess, Cathy. I'm a mess.' "

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @_ericdlawrence.