CHICAGO (CBS) – Police are hunting for two men who committed a bizarre robbery Saturday morning in the South Shore neighborhood. The men appear to have used a dog as a weapon.
At around 4:30 a.m., the victim was trying to get into his car, which was parked along E. 67 Street near South Jeffery, when the pitbull and its owner approached him. The owner dropped the dog on him so they could rob him.
The 30-year-old’s black Nissan was still parked there a few hours later, but the robbers took his wallet, keys and money, and the dog bit his left arm and both legs. .
Police said he then took himself to the University of Chicago Medical Center for treatment. He is in a serious condition.
“A well-trained dog can paralyze you or kill you, as simple as that,” says Daniel McElroy, who has trained dogs for 20 years. “A well-trained, obedient dog can be aggressive on command and can respond to threats to its handler,” he said.
This robber used his working line for evil purposes.
“I train guard dogs because I want people to be safe from this kind of thing, not to be a victim of this type of dog use,” he said. “It makes things worse.”
He even showed CBS 2’s Sabrina Franza how he trains his dogs to bite – safely.
“Sometimes you come across dogs that are just aggressive dogs,” he said. “And if someone has a dog and they know they have an aggressive dog, maybe they can take him out and release him to someone.”
He also said it was very unlikely that the pitbull was scared.
“The dog is scared to bite, the dog only bites because they’re scared. But the dog that bites you because they’re scared will bite you and then take distance; they want distance.”
CBS 2 asks the victim what he should have done.
“The best way to protect yourself is to put your fingers together, put the back of your neck, roll into a ball in less important areas so you don’t bump into important areas,” says McElroy.
Police are still searching for the two robbers who attacked the victim. The investigation is underway.
