PLAINFIELD — The video is brief but disturbing: A woman, lying defenseless on a Plainfield street, pleads for help as two large dogs bite her relentlessly and onlookers scream in horror.

One woman acts as a human shield, lying atop of the victim, while a bystander drags the dogs away by their hind legs and another uses a large stick to try and keep them at bay. But the animals continue to break free and lunge at the victim, until police officers show up and draw their pistols.

Then, just as a car rolls into the frame, a series of loud gunshots ring out.

Plainfield police officers shot and killed the two dogs Saturday on the 1000 block of West 7th Street, according to Police Director Martin Hellwig. The 5-year-old American bulldogs, which police and neighbors say did not have a history of violence, escaped from their backyard around 6 p.m. and attacked a woman walking down the street.

Two frames from the video show a woman shielding the victim from attacks by the two American bulldogs.

"These were very powerful dogs, and they were intent on doing damage," Hellwig said.

The victim, whom police identified as a 55-year-old Plainfield resident, was semi-conscious and bleeding when officers arrived and found one dog with its teeth around her head. The officers shot and killed the first dog, and when the second dog ran toward the victim again, police killed it as well, Hellwig said.

“I think the officers displayed calmness and courage in the situation," he said. "I'm very proud of them."

The victim is in stable condition Tuesday at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, police said. She sustained numerous bites from both dogs.

Shannon Gwynn was driving her boyfriend and cousin down West 7th Street when she saw the commotion.

“At first it looked like they were playing with her,” Gwynn, 19, said. “But I just stopped the car and I started screaming. They were on a mission — they just wanted to get at her.”

Gwynn, who took video of the ordeal and posted it to YouTube, said she tried to turn the car across the street in an attempt to hit the dogs, but there were too many people around. She wouldn’t allow her boyfriend or cousin to get out of the car, either, because of how menacing the dogs looked as they returned again and again, biting the woman on the ground.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Gwynn, of Edison, said. “It was so gruesome.”

Neighbor Kashif Davis, 20, who witnessed the attack, said the dogs’ owner was the woman in the video using herself as a shield to protect the victim.

"The owner was lying on top of the lady to cover her," Davis said. His 24-year-old brother was the man in the video who used the large stick to keep the dogs back, he said.

Plainfield police were forced to fatally shoot the dogs.

Davis said police arrived quickly, and, realizing the victim was losing blood, were forced to act quickly.

"It took a lot to take them dogs out. After three shots, they were still running," Davis said. He said police shot the two dogs a total of 10 times as the owner stood by, watching sadly.

"It's tragic what happened, all the way around. Obviously no one wants to see the dogs killed, but they had to do what they had to do," Hellwig said.

The dogs had been released into their backyard like any other day, Hellwig said, but the owner was unaware that her gate was left open. The dogs were able to get through the gate and into the front yard, where they attacked the victim.

That gate was shut tight Tuesday, and a sign hanging from it read: “Beware of Dogs.”

The dogs' owner — who was not identified by police or neighbors — could not be reached for comment.

None of the neighbors had ever complained about the dogs, Hellwig said, and an eyewitness told police they even appeared friendly just before the attack started.

“They were very nice dogs. I pet them through the gate," Davis said.

The owner of the dogs, who Hellwig said does not have any history of problems with animals, was issued two summonses under a vicious dog ordinance and another two for violation of leash laws.

Staff writers Seth Augenstein and Tom Haydon contributed to this report.

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