ILLINOIS -- A vicious pit bull was euthanized Tuesday after being shot and tasered by local police in the area of Avon Street, Walnut Avenue, and Homer Street, said Freeport Deputy Police Chief Jeff Davis.
The incident began shortly after 9 a.m. on Tuesday when officers responded to a report of an aggressive dog in the 200 block of Avon Street. A female resident there had reportedly called police because a pit bull was in her yard and she could not leave her house.
According to Davis, officers spotted the animal running through a yard in the 800 block of South Walnut Avenue and exited their squad car to investigate. The dog was initially running in the opposite direction of the officers. However, when the animal spotted the two officers, it turned around and charged toward them in an aggressive manner, Davis said.
“It was running at them, growling,” Davis said. “It was a very large pit bull.”
One of the officers fired at the charging dog three times, and two of the bullets struck the animal, Davis said. The dog continued running forward, bumping into an officer’s leg, and then headed in the direction of a nearby porch, where a man was standing.
At this point, the man in question was in the line of fire so police did not shoot at the dog again.
Instead, a taser was deployed on the animal, after which the dog ran away down the street, Davis said.
“Officers have to defend themselves against vicious attacks by animals,” Davis said. “When a dog is running at you, you have very little time to decide. You have to defend yourself. It appears that the officers did that in this case.”
The pit bull eventually cornered itself by a backyard and fence in the 300 block of Homer Street. At first, animal control personnel tried to tranquilize the animal, but the tranquilizer gun malfunctioned.
Eventually, though, they were able to “noose” the dog and capture it, Davis said.
The dog was not micro-chipped, as is required by city ordinance, so police have not yet been able to locate the animal’s owner. The dog was euthanized at the Freeport Animal Hospital on Tuesday.
“We don’t know whose dog it was and no one has come forward yet,” Davis said. “Unless someone comes forward, there’s no way to track the dog.”
Davis said vicious animals are a recurring problem in Freeport, but that he has not noticed an increase in these kind of calls.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a growing problem,” Davis said. “It’s a problem we have always dealt with.”
(Journal Standard - Feb 9, 2012)
