Man saved from dog attack after new phone explodes in his pocket

A severe technological mishap that would have ruined anyone else’s day saved the life of a Brazilian man who was attacked by dogs on his way to work.

Reinaldo Duarte de Almeida, a mechanic, was walking to his garage for work on Wednesday, February 18 when two stray dogs suddenly ran up and attacked him on the sidewalk.

One of the dogs lunged at his neck. Almeida moved to protect himself, causing the animal to bite his pants pocket instead, right where his smart phone was stored.

The pressure from the dog’s teeth reportedly caused the phone’s battery to explode, injuring both Almeida and the dog and scaring the animals away.

Exploding cell phone saves man’s life from dog attack

Reports from local news outlets state that he was transported to an Emergency Care Unit, having suffered burns on his leg and the fingers on one hand. He also received eight stitches for one of the dog bites.

Almeida has since been discharged and is “doing well.” Despite the scary situation, he has decided against pressing charges against the dogs’ owner, saying they apologized to him and promised to both cover his medical bills and pay for a replacement phone.

The dogs were placed in the custody of their owners’ niece. Brazilian Military Police reported the incident as “negligence in the custody of animals.”

“It was dangerous, but it saved me. It was bizarre. This cell phone was only 20 days old, but it saved my life,” Almeida told the media.

While iPhones generally aren’t prone to random bouts of combustion, they can explode if their battery is punctured, as seen in Almeida’s case when the dog’s tooth bit into the device during the attack.