The pitbull breed is notorious for being protective of their owners, but this time, it led to a dog being shot by police. Star, a pitbull mix, was by her owner, Lech Stankiewicz’s, side while he was having seizures in the middle of the street. Not that this matters, but I do feel people should be aware that this has happened before to Lech and was suspected to have a connection with his drug use and overdosing.

Johnny Rodriguez, who was visiting the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary nearby, said he and three other people alerted nearby police officers that the owner of the dog was in danger of being hit by traffic. “He was having a seizure, I saw him lying down on the ground and his head was twitching and shaking.” The two officers who responded called for backup (“I guess they didn’t have the training or something”) and the dog began growling as officers approached the man.

“I told one of the cops, ‘Hey, that dog is growling, be careful,’ because they were getting pretty close,” Rodriguez says. “I used to have a pit bull and that’s just how they are, they protect their owners.” Rodriguez thought that one woman had placed herself too closely behind the man as she was observing what was happening. “It grabbed her pants, but it didn’t bite her, then the dog starts running at the cop.”

Contrary to previous reports, Rodriguez, who lives in Bay Ridge, says that police used mace only after the dog was shot. “If they used it, I didn’t see it, I was there the whole time though.”

Star is still alive and is safe at the Animal Care & Control facility on East 110th Street. It will be further investigated as to how she behaves, once she’s had a full recovery. Right now, they’re currently trying to locate Star’s owner, Lech, but have been unsuccessful in doing so. What’s weird to me, is he was unconscious on the ground, they shot his dog, and then failed to go back and tend to the man? They have no idea where he went? That’s ridiculous ha.

I’m not quite sure if I can side with the police or not, mainly because I wasn’t in that situation. For me, seeing a dog get shot is more emotionally difficult to handle than seeing a person get shot. Don’t ask me why, but I assume it has something to do with my mother being the same way. Regardless, I do value human lives and wouldn’t want to see someone die because they refused to fight the animal first.

The Local East Village spoke to friends of the dog’s owner, who police identify as Lech Stankiewicz, and they said that Star has a history of being overprotective of Stankiewicz.

“Most of us figured out that when he’s passed out, whether he’s overdosing or not, leave him alone,” the friend, Brandon Verna, said. “If he’s going to die, call an ambulance and have them deal with it because no one wants to get bitten.”

I love pitbulls and all they have to offer. I am also afraid of pitbulls and all that can accomplish. Just like any dog, some are nice and some aren’t, some are trained well and others weren’t. But pitbulls are protectors, and because of that, they get a bad rap sometimes and people mistake their devotedness as aggression. I think I would have found this easier to digest if they had immediately tended to the unconscious man after the dog was no longer was an issue.

What do you think?

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