A woman was left critically injured on a San Francisco street after a pit bull suddenly attacked her and refused to let go as horrified bystanders desperately tried to intervene.

The terrifying incident unfolded Tuesday morning in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood, where witnesses said the unleashed dog lunged at the woman without warning.

What followed was a prolonged struggle lasting as long as 10 to 15 minutes.

Passersby reportedly rushed to help, using pepper spray and trying repeatedly to pull the animal away.

But the attack continued.

Video from the scene captured the chaos as the woman lay on the ground and the dog remained beside her, its face visibly covered in blood.

People nearby could be heard screaming conflicting instructions as police arrived.

“Shoot that dog!” some shouted.

“Don’t shoot that dog!” others yelled.

The attack happened roughly a quarter of a mile from the neighborhood’s police station.

When officers reached the scene, they used a catch pole to restrain the animal.

By then, the woman had already suffered devastating injuries.

She sustained serious wounds to both hands, one wrist and a knee, according to local reports.

She was bleeding heavily when emergency crews transported her to San Francisco General Hospital.

Doctors placed her on a ventilator.

She remained in critical condition after the attack.

The victim’s identity has not been publicly released.

Authorities have also not confirmed reports that she may be homeless or living in the Tenderloin.

The dog’s owner was nowhere to be found when police arrived.

Witnesses told local media that the dog and its owner were familiar sights in the neighborhood, though it remains unclear whether the animal had previously been allowed to roam without a leash.

The pit bull itself died at the scene.

Exactly how remains under investigation.

The San Francisco Police Department said the animal became unresponsive while officers were restraining it and was pronounced dead there.

Its remains were taken by San Francisco Animal Care and Control.

Some witnesses have alleged that the dog died because of the force used during the restraint, but police have not confirmed that account.

The attack has reignited concerns about dangerous dogs in the Tenderloin, where city officials say animal-related incidents have become a persistent problem.

Tenderloin Supervisor Bilal Mahmood said the mauling should not be viewed as an isolated event.

He said local officials had repeatedly met with families and residents who reported similar problems involving dogs on neighborhood streets over the previous year.

Earlier in 2026, authorities worked with the Tenderloin police station on a program intended to increase both enforcement and education involving dogs in the area.

Mahmood said officials would again work with police to determine what additional measures might improve public safety.

The numbers underline the concern.

Since January, San Francisco’s Dangerous Dogs Unit has received 729 reports of dog bites, according to Officer Greg Sutherland.

Last year, the unit received 1,027.

Sutherland said an estimated 30 to 40 percent of those bites occur in the Tenderloin alone.

The neighborhood has long struggled with homelessness, open-air drug activity and public safety concerns, while many unhoused residents keep dogs for companionship or protection.

Those circumstances have made enforcement unusually complicated.

San Francisco has a specialized hearing system for dangerous-dog cases, sometimes referred to locally as “dog court.”

The hearings were created after the notorious Diane Whipple case, in which a San Francisco woman was killed by two large dogs in 2001.

But the system itself recently faced problems.

Regular hearings were suspended for about 10 months because of funding shortages before finally resuming.

By the time proceedings restarted, officials reportedly had accumulated a backlog of dozens of cases.

The latest attack now puts new pressure on that system.

For the people who witnessed Tuesday’s mauling, however, policy debates came later.

In the moment, there was only panic.

A woman was on the pavement.

People were screaming.

Strangers were trying to pull a powerful dog away from her.

And every second mattered.

Witnesses said the animal seemingly attacked at random, leaving pedestrians struggling unsuccessfully to control it before police arrived.

The image that remained afterward was difficult to forget: the injured woman being rushed away for emergency treatment, and the dog dead at the scene.

Police are now investigating exactly what led to the attack, who owned the animal, and why the dog was apparently loose.

Those questions may eventually determine whether anyone faces consequences.

But for now, one fact overshadows everything else.

A woman who was simply walking through a San Francisco neighborhood ended her morning on a ventilator, fighting for her life.