Longtime Wichita television personality R.J. Dickens was in the emergency room after being attacked by a pit bull dog in the elevator at his apartment building.

Dickens, News Director at KCTU-TV, a low power station said he was riding down in an elevator at when the attack occurred.

“As soon as the door opened, the dog just jumped in and lunged at me,” Dickens said, while waiting to see a doctor at Via Christi Hospital St. Francis. “He was on a leash the whole time, but it was a very long leash.”

Dickens said the dog bit him on the stomach, but let loose after he kneed the animal. He said he suffered puncture wounds from the dog's teeth.

“It hurts like heck,” Dickens said.

He said police were called and were going to talk to the dog's owner when he went to the hospital. The owner is a neighbor in the building, Dickens said. He said the woman was “in shock” after the attack.

“I was told when I moved in we were not allowed to have dogs,” Dickens said. “Now there are three pit bulls and they're all on my floor.”

Dickens is best known in Wichita as a longtime host of public affairs and talk shows on KCTU, a low-power TV station that broadcasts on Channel 43.

He's been off the air for several months after injuring himself in a fall, but said he continues to do programming and production work at the station.

H/T The Wichita Eagle