Shane Middleton was at the right place at the right time. He was driving down a dirt road near Jasper, Arkansas, when he saw multiple dogs attacking a man.

“They were eating him up," Middleton said. "And I got out and threw a rock at them. They kind of scattered. I picked him up, put him over my shoulder and took him to the ER.”

He said the man was covered in blood.

“It was a pretty big deal," he said. "They’d been on him for a minute because all the blood was dry on his shoulders and stuff. They moved to his feet. Down his legs.”

The family provided pictures of the injuries.

“He had been wearing full clothing for this time of year," Sheriff Glenn Wheeler said. "They had basically taken him down to his underwear.”

The Newton County sheriff said it’s not clear what exactly happened leading up to the attack.

“There are some discrepancies on where the attack actually started," Wheeler said.

He said there was a trail of blood from the house all the way down the driveway, to the road.

He adds it's also unclear exactly how many dogs attacked.

“We know of at least three that were involved," he said.

And it's not clear what breed they were either.

“Initially we were told one was a pit bull," Wheeler said. "One was a collie type. And then the other ones were just kind of mixed breed. I don’t know for sure if they're truly full-blood pit bull, so I don’t know any of that yet. We’re still investigating.”

Arkansas law says a dog that bites someone should be quarantined for 10 days and observed for rabies.

But these dogs' owners took the matter into their own hands.

"All three of those dogs have been captured and actually put down by the owners," Wheeler said.

Meanwhile the man who was attacked is still in the hospital.

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The dogs' owners have not been cited, and the sheriff's office is still looking into the attack.

Wheeler said he has never received a previous report of these dogs attacking anyone else.

The dogs' bodies will be sent to the Arkansas Health Department for rabies testing.