How a jogger fleeing a pit bull near Ukrainian Village made global headlines

While sitting at his Loop office Monday, an uneasy feeling came over Nick Massuci when a stranger called his cellphone to inquire about a video of him someone had posted online.

“That’s never good,” Massuci said with a laugh as he explained to the Chicago Sun-Times the strange circumstances of the call.

A producer from the television show “Inside Edition” was on the other end of the call and wanted to interview Massuci via Apple FaceTime about the video.

It showed Massuci escaping a pit bull attack on a North Side sidewalk by hopping on top of a fence.

Massuci remembered the incident immediately and his suspicion was suddenly replaced by confusion.

Why would a pit bull attack that happened nearly two years ago, in March 2018, spur interest from the media?

The attack happened while Massuci, who works in finance, was jogging in the 1800 block of West Huron Street near the Ukrainian Village neighborhood.

The video shows Massuci hopping onto a fence to get away from the pit bull. Massuci said he then realized a German shepherd (which cannot be seen in the video) was on the other side of the fence — so he stayed put.

While straddling the fence, he called his wife, who was out for a walk with their 8-month-old son two blocks from where he found himself in a pickle.

“I told her what was happening and that this dog was on the loose and to get inside somewhere, and then I called the police,” recalled Massuci, who’s since moved to the suburbs.

The owner of the home, Matt Mikka, came outside and asked Massuci if he was OK and told him not to mind his German shepherd, he’d be safe in his yard if he wanted to climb down.

Mikka mentioned his home security cameras captured the incident, but Massuci never asked to see it. The bite marks on his arms left bruises but barely broke the skin, so he filed a police report, chalked it up to a close call that could have been worse and the incident became a distant memory.

That is, until Mikka posted video of the attack to YouTube this week, which spurred the call from “Inside Edition.”

“I was looking through old videos Monday and realized I forgot to post it,” Mikka said.

The video also popped up Monday in the British tabloid press when the Daily Mail published a story on its website about the attack, though it didn’t mention it happened two years ago.

Mikka, an engineer who hosts a myth-busting show that can be found online, is a bit of a videophile and has five high-definition security cameras pointed out the front of his home that recorded the attack.

“I’m just impressed with the clarity of the video,” Massuci said, noting he could be seen shaking his keys in a fruitless effort to distract the dog.

Mikka said the pit bull had been a problem for some time and is thankful its owner no longer lives in the neighborhood.

“When I’d leave the house with my daughter, I’d wait for the dog to go inside before going out my front gate,” he said.