Saturday, November 26, 2011

Cops shoot pit bull attacking teen

NEW YORK -- For the second time in a week, a police officer on Staten Island has drawn his gun and shot a dog.

The latest incident occurred yesterday when the officer wounded a pit bull in Stapleton after the dog charged at them after attacking a teenager, police said.

The pit bull was captured by authorities

The drama unfolded when police responded to a 911 call for a 16-year-old boy being bitten at 11:52 a.m., according to an NYPD spokesman.

The cops were rushed by the animal as it stormed toward them on Hudson Street in Stapleton, according to the New York Post, citing sources.

One officer squeezed off several shots, striking the dog in the body and neck, the sources added.

The teen, whose names was not immediately released, was transported to Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton and treated for bite wounds of his legs, the paper reported.

The wounded dog was under the care of New York City Animal Care and Control, sources said.

The owner of the pit bull, a 12-year-old boy, told cops that the dog bounded out of his building on nearby Gordon Street after he opened the door to greet his pal, the 16-year-old victim, the report said.

On Sunday night, a Doberman was shot dead by an off-duty Port Authority cop in Westerleigh.

Port Authority officials have opened an investigation into that shooting. Though P.A. officials refused to identify the officer, multiple law enforcement sources confirmed his identity as 31-year-old Joseph Brenneck.

The Mazzola family was coming home from a trip to the Catskill Mountains at about 9 p.m. Sunday night when their Doberman, Boo Boo, burst out of their car without his leash, which was parked across from their home at the intersection of Leonard and Muller avenues.

Brenneck, who lives about three blocks away, was walking his pug, and Boo Boo bounded toward the smaller animal.

The Doberman’s owner, Jospeh Mazzola, 23, said the two dogs started “scrapping,” and before he and his brother, Vincent, 19, could dive in to separate them, the officer fired a single shot, killing Boo Boo.

An NYPD spokesman said the officer told police he was defending his own dog, while the Mazzolas maintain the Doberman was 'harmless' and 'looking to play'.

(SILive - Nov 25, 2011)