The father of a boy wounded in a dog attack last week is saluting the Good Samaritan who came to his son’s aid.
Last Wednesday, 12-year-old Kevin Buitendyk was walking home from school on Beaver Street at around 2:30 p.m. when a leashed Rottweiler heading the other direction lunged at him and bit down on his upper arm, ripping through his flesh.
It took 30 stitches to repair the gashes in his arm. The police report would later describe the animal as being twice the size of Kevin.
Just down the road, Navee Thandi had been standing, chatting on his phone. He was about to head inside when he heard a scream. Just down the street he saw Kevin, clutching his arm and walking back and forth.
A nearby dog, which was on a leash, “was still lunging at him,” Thandi remembered. “It looked like the dog wanted to eat the kid.”
Thandi, who has his Level 2 First Aid, rushed over to help. As the man who walked the dog left the scene, Thandi ushered Kevin inside, wrapped his arm in a towel, called 911 and tried to distract the boy, who appeared to be going into shock and was pale and clammy. For around 15 minutes, Thandi tried to distract Kevin from his wounds, asking him about school and watching YouTube videos of bloopers.
“It worked for a bit, and all of a sudden [the pain] would hit him.” 
Thandi, 36, said “it was a simple thing to do,” given there was no one else in the area, save the dog-walker, who he said took off after the incident.
But Kevin’s father Paul called the Good Samaritan a “hero,” for helping his son.
“That guy was super nice,” he said. “He was so good with my son.”
Paul Buitendyk said his son is now recovering at home, with a bandaged arm and wounds that he said will scar.
After arriving on the scene, police found the dog at a home several houses down. The Rottweiler was removed by animal control, which is still investigating the incident, according to the Fraser Valley Regional District.
On Sunday, Kevin called the dog-walker to forgive him. Paul said the conversation went well and the man was “very remorseful.”