Suspended Old Forge police chief stops vicious dog attack

PENNSYLVANIA -- An Old Forge woman credits suspended borough Police Chief Larry Semenza with saving her son from serious injury after a vicious dog attacked him Monday night.

Kathy Stocki of Sussex Street said her son, Patrick, 26, was walking the family's 2-year-old Yorkshire terrier, "Squirt," near their home around 10:30 p.m. when a neighbor's pit bull charged him and their dog.

The pit bull knocked her son to the ground and bit him as he shielded his dog, she said. Mr. Stocki required seven stitches to close a wound to his elbow, but his injuries likely would have been much worse if not for Chief Semenza, who ran to Mr. Stocki's assistance after hearing him scream for help, she said.

"Mr. Semenza came to my son's aid at his own peril," Mrs. Stocki said.

Old Forge suspended Chief Semenza without pay in May 2012, when police charged him with sexually assaulting a teenage girl who was a volunteer firefighter between 2004 and 2007. He denies the allegations and awaits trial in that case.

The suspended chief lives a few doors down from the Stockis. He said his wife heard the attack as she walked her dog and screamed for him to come outside. He said he heard Mr. Stocki yelling for help and found him on the ground, struggling to get up as the pit bull attacked.

Chief Semenza said the pit bull bit him on the hand as he grabbed it by the neck.

Though not an active police officer, Chief Semenza said he never thought twice about helping Mr. Stocki.

"I've done this my whole life," he said. "Someone had to do something."

Mrs. Stocki said she does not know if charges will be filed against the dog's owner, whom she does not know. She said the case is being investigated by Tina Walter, state dog warden for Lackawanna and Wyoming counties.

The Taylor Police Department is also investigating the case. Taylor Police Chief Leonard Mickavicz did not return a phone message Thursday regarding why his department is investigating given the incident occurred in another municipality. Chief Semenza said he believes Taylor was asked to take the case because of the circumstances surrounding his position in Old Forge.

(Scranton Times-Tribune - May 31, 2013)