Steven Constantine, courtesy of family

DETROIT, MI -- It was about 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 2 when a pack of up to 12 pit bulls, four of them puppies, mauled 50-year-old Steven Constantine in Detroit.

Constantine's sister, Katherine Hawley of Shelby Township, said after the attack the dogs "literally" ate pieces of her brother's muscle and arm tendons.

"It was worse than your worst nightmare," she said.

Detroit police interrupted the attack and fatally shot one of the dogs, but the rest ran back inside their home on Pennsylvania in Detroit.

More details of the attack

They were seized the following day, tested for rabies and subsequently euthanized.

Derrick Felton

More than five months after the attack, dog owner Derrick Felton, 61, is in custody and charged with three felony charges of harboring a dangerous animal causing serious injury, each count punishable by up to four years in prison, up to $2,000 in fines.

The Wayne County prosecutor filed the charges "several months ago," but Felton couldn't be located until Monday, when he was arrested, Wayne County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Maria Miller said.

Constantine told police when interviewed 11 days after the attack that he was walking past a house on the 4500 block of Pennsylvania in east Detroit and saw the dog owner, Derrick Felton, opening a large bag of dog food for his pack of dogs.

Constantine knew Felton, whom he referred to as a friend, from the area and called him by the nickname "Butch."

Felton said, "just seen him around the block and at the liquor store," when asked by police how he knew Constantine, according to the police report.

Mark Bernstein, an attorney for Farmington Hills-based Sam Bernstein Law Firm, is representing Constantine in a $25,000-plus lawsuit against the dog owners, Derrick Felton and his mother, the homeowner, Elizabeth Felton.

Bernstein provided MLive with statements made to police after the attack by both Felton and Constantine.

"I asked if I could help feed the dogs," Constantine told police. "He said, 'Yeah.' I started opening the bag, then the dogs started attacking and eating me alive."

Felton said he couldn't get the dogs off Constantine and went inside his home once medics arrived. The medics, fearing the dogs would attack them, stayed in their ambulance until police arrived, shooting and killing one. The gunfire ended the attack, sending the remaining dogs scurrying back into Felton's house.

"When you look at the way this mauling occurred, it suggests that the dog owner did nothing to assist our client," Bernstein said when the civil lawsuit was filed, "that he essentially left the scene ... while Steve was pleading for help."

Felton admitted to owning "about 15" dogs, with the puppies included.

"Because I want to," Felton told the investigator when asked why he owned so many.

Detroit law limits the number of adult dogs at a single residence to four. A code violation is punishable by up to 20 days in jail and/or a $250 fine, according to the Code of Ordinances.

MLive left a message requesting comment from Bernstein but couldn't immediately reach him Tuesday afternoon.