Page 46 - November 2017 Magazine

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SWAT and 11th District of cers provide some puppy love
So, who got the dogs out?
At approximately 6 a.m. on Oct. 20, two Cane Corso dogs were holed up inside the chapel at RML Special- ty Hospital on Van Bu- ren Street in the 11th District. Hospital secu- rity called the District, and with Animal Con- trol not being on duty until 8 a.m., somebody had to respond.
Four SWAT team of- ficers worked with four officers from 11 and hospital security, and together they literally let the dogs out.
“Because we deal
with dogs on warrants
and search warrants
for fighting dogs, we
were able to respond
to this situation,” re-
called Bobby Bartlett,
one of the responding
SWAT team. “I opened
the door to the chapel
and looked at the dogs.
They didn’t seem vi-
cious. I whistled and they came over wagging their tails.”
So Bartlett and fellow SWAT Officers Andy Cuomo, Scott Berry and Lou Maldonado let the dogs out. He accentuat- ed the team effort required because of the size of the dogs.
The Cane Corso is a large Italian breed of dog, for years valued highly in Italy as a companion, guard dog and hunter. It almost looks like a cross between a Doberman and a pit bull. The male of the pair weighed about 150 pounds, and “pulled me down the street as I walked him to the 11th District,” Bartlett said.
Of course, the obvious question would be who let the dogs in? According to Bartlett, they wandered in through the main entrance when the automatic doors opened after its sensors picked up their presence. The chapel is right off the lobby security desk, and the dogs wound up
46 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ NOVEMBER 2016
there probably seeking safety. Se- curity closed the doors and called the 11th District.
When responding to the call, the SWAT officers deployed sig- nificant expertise. Bartlett lured the dogs over by allowing them to sniff his hand. And once the team
determined the dogs were not vicious, the of- ficers were able to leash them with leashes hospital securi- ty provided.
“If we had tried to noose them, they would have felt like they were being attacked,” Bartlett sur- mised. “They would have turned vicious, and there is no way we could
have controlled them.”
Bartlett suggested that these
dogs might have been some-
body’s pets. Or they might have been looking for food. When they were brought into the 11th District, the female Corso devoured two packages of hot dogs. The male didn’t eat. The vet who examined both dogs said he might have been too stressed out by the event to have an appetite. Eventually, Animal Control
came to take the dogs.
SWAT officers do encounter many lost dogs in the
neighborhoods they serve, and as part of their high-risk entry specialty, they sometimes find them in homes they breach. And when there are potentially dangerous dogs wandering on the streets, the Department order is to call SWAT.
But even if this rescue was not above and beyond the call of duty, it certainly was unique.
“This has never happened before,” Bartlett noted.d