Cops Shoot Dog After One Attacks Elgin Firefighter, 2 Charge Firehouse
ELGIN, Ill. (CBS) -- What started out as some nice time outside on a nice day on Wednesday resulted in Elgin firefighters being barricaded in their fire station because of a couple of vicious dogs.
WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports Elgin Fire Capt. Tony Bialek was on the back patio of an Elgin's fire station at 3270 Longcommon Parkway, eating his lunch, and talking on his cell phone with his wife, when a 90-pound female pit bull came at him.
Bialek raced to the firehouse door.
"I got to the door, and the dog was right there, and I shut the door, and the dog jumped up on the glass, and it wanted to chomp on my behind, that's for sure," he said. "The dog was bouncing off the glass, trying to get into the station."
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports
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Bialek said he was lucky he had left the back door of the firehouse open when he went outside to eat.
"If I didn't have that door propped, I wouldn't have made it, even if I didn't panic and do the wrong combination," he said. "The dog was, (her) nose was right there by the door when I shut it, it was that close; drooling, foaming at the mouth, chomping away."
Then, another larger dog – a 130-pound Presa Canario mix – joined in, and the two dogs kept firefighters from going outside, bouncing against the firehouse door glass, trying to break it.
"They wouldn't let nobody out of the station," Bialek said.
Police came and one of the dogs attacked them, so officers shot and wounded the animal. Both animals ran back to a nearby home.
The wounded dog was taken to a veterinarian, and the dogs' owner was ticketed for allowing the dogs to run free, and for owning a dangerous animal.
