Distressing video captures the moment a disabled Arizona man and his dog were attacked and badly hurt by a swarm of killer bees as he was riding his wheelchair exercise bike.
John Fischer, 60, and his pooch Pippin were out for some exercise in their Florence neighborhood Saturday evening when about 1,000 bees overwhelmed them, Arizona Family reported.
Surveillance footage published by the outlet shows Fischer – who lost a leg to infection about eight years ago – trying to crawl on the ground while using his shirt to shield him from the buzzing insects.
Fischer said he sustained over 250 stingers in his body in the harrowing attack, which left him with stings on his arms, eyes, mouth, ears, legs and back – as well scrapes from crawling on the ground after his wheelchair overturned.
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“I crawled my way for a period of time to try to get far away from where they were, but they, of course, just followed me,” Fischer told Arizona Family.
John Fischer, 60, a disabled Arizona resident, and his dog Pippin were attacked by a swarm of hundreds of killer bees while he was out on his exercise wheelchair bike.KTVK / KPHO Fischer, who only has one leg, was caught on video trying to flee from the bees by crawling on the ground.KTVK / KPHO
First responders even had to initially retreat after the bees also began attacking them, but Fischer was finally hosed down by rescuers and rushed to a hospital, where he was given morphine for the pain and had the stingers removed from his badly bruised body.
Pippin was stung over 50 times and was taken to an animal hospital in critical condition.
“I have never experienced anything like this before. I had been stung many times before but nothing where it was more than 10 or 15 stings,” he told Arizona Family.
“There was a part of me that wanted to freak out, and there was a part of me that wanted to panic. And I knew, from past experience, that’s where you’ll lose it. And you’re no longer in control. That’s where you run into more danger,” Fischer said.
“I have never experienced anything like this before. I had been stung many times before but nothing where it was more than 10 or 15 stings,” he said.KTVK / KPHO Pippin was stung over 50 times and remained in critical condition at an animal hospital.KTVK / KPHO
He said he was pedaling his chair with his hands with Pippin in tow when he felt what he thought was a fly and swatted it away.
“Next thing I know, there were bees all over me and all over the dog,” Fischer told the outlet. “I tried to get across the street, but I can’t see ’cause they’re going towards my eyes, and they’re all over my face.”
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He managed to release Pippin, who was also getting attacked, and he ran away to a neighbor’s house, but Fischer’s wheelchair overturned during the relentless attack.
Explaining Pippin’s injuries, he addded: “He’s sick. We’re trying to get him to drink. He is very sore, and what I can see is he’s pretty lethargic. We’re also giving him Benadryl, so that’s going to knock him out,” Fischer said.
He launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for his dog’s care.
“Unlike me, he is allergic to bee stings,” Fischer wrote about his canine companion, who he said was in critical condition due to the toxins.
Fischer lost one leg to an infection about eight years ago.KTVK / KPHO He suffered scrapes on his knee after crawling on the ground to escape from the bees.KTVK / KPHO
“We don’t have all the details at this time, but hospitalization for at least a few more days is going to happen. He is back in the danger zone,” he added.
Fischer said he was grateful to the Florence firefighters who rushed to help him – and expressed his relief that his daughter wasn’t with him that night as she is also allergic to bees.
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As a final act of revenge against his attackers, he used his chair to run over a live bee that fell out of his bag.
ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals are set to see kicker Matt Prater return to the practice field on Wednesday as the team prepares for their Week 16 matchup against the Carolina Panthers.
“He’ll be out there kicking today. You’ll see him out there booting it today,” head coach Jonathan Gannon told reporters ahead of practice.
Prater played in just four games this season after suffering a knee injury which saw him land on injured reserve back on Oct. 15.
While the full injury was not disclosed, ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss reported Prater has been recovering from surgery to repair his meniscus in the left knee.
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Replacement Chad Ryland has mostly been clutch for the Cardinals in Prater’s absence, helping Arizona to a 7-7 record while going 22-26 on all field goal attempts, converting all 15 kicks under 40 yards.
With just three weeks left in the regular season, Prater could make a return at any point when the Cardinals officially open his 21 day window for return. Prater is allowed to practice with the team and can be elevated to the active roster at any point.
Arizona has matchups against the Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers to close out the year.
It will be interesting to see how the Cardinals handle their kicking conundrum, as Ryland has mostly played well while Prater is one of the league’s best despite being at the age of 40.
Samford Bulldogs (9-2) at Arizona Wildcats (4-5, 0-1 Big 12)
Tucson, Arizona; Wednesday, 9 p.m. EST
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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Wildcats -19.5; over/under is 168.5
BOTTOM LINE: Samford is looking to keep its five-game win streak intact when the Bulldogs take on Arizona.
The Wildcats are 3-1 in home games. Arizona averages 83.4 points and has outscored opponents by 12.4 points per game.
The Bulldogs are 2-2 on the road. Samford averages 19.1 assists per game to lead the SoCon, paced by Rylan Jones with 6.1.
Arizona’s average of 6.3 made 3-pointers per game is 1.2 fewer made shots on average than the 7.5 per game Samford allows. Samford averages 19.5 more points per game (90.5) than Arizona gives up to opponents (71.0).
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TOP PERFORMERS: Caleb Love is shooting 36.6% and averaging 13.3 points for the Wildcats.
Jones is averaging 10.5 points, 6.1 assists and 1.6 steals for the Bulldogs.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona Public Service (APS) electric customers with solar panels will still need to pay a relatively new monthly fee after the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) voted in favor of the grid access charge.
Commissioners reaffirmed the fee in a 3-1 decision on Tuesday. The APS grid access charge (GAC) was approved in February and came under fire after opponents said it discriminated against residential solar customers by increasing rates.
“In general, all costs related to such services should be equitably distributed to each class of service. As demonstrated… residential solar customers are paying less than 70% of the costs to serve them,” Judge Belinda Martin said.
Proponents of the upgraded charges say there is a cost shift in place now and that the restructured charges will balance costs between the two types of customers.
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“$61 million were imposed on APS’ residential customers that do not have solar. That means about one million customers have been paying the bill for those that have solar on their homes,” said Jim O’Connor, an ACC chairman.
APS says the fee is a fixed charge that helps recover the costs of maintaining services and equipment. Regulators say that solar customers rely on APS’ power grid to provide electricity when their systems aren’t working, which is why the increase is justified.
Still, groups like the Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association (AriSEIA) disagreed, saying that utility provider miscalculated the cost of service to solar customers.
“APS testified that if the ACC eliminated the solar fees, the difference would be $.25 to residential customers. Despite the evidence, the ACC will penalize solar customers several dollars per month and approved an amendment to increase it in APS’ next rate case, which is anticipated to be filed in 2025,” the association said in a news release after the ruling.
“The evidentiary record makes it clear that solar customers are subsidizing non-solar customers and yet APS and the ACC continue to penalize solar customers with unfounded and discriminatory fees,” said Autumn Johnson, the executive director of AriSEIA.
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In a news release, the ACC said critics of the opinion have “mischaracterized the GAC as a ‘solar tax’ on about 184,000 Arizonans with rooftop solar.”
“I understand no one wants to pay more on their bills, but this is about parity and fairness for all ratepayers,” said Commissioner Kevin Thompson. “I hope there’s a day when homeowners can live completely free from the grid, but we are not there now. I believe all costs related to providing service should be equally and fairly distributed among all classes of customers, and we have a duty to address cost shifts and subsidies when they exist.”
AriSEIA said an appeal is likely early next year.
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