PEABODY, MASS. (WHDH) - A Peabody police officer was forced to fatally shoot a dog that went on the attack Thursday night and left its owner and her boyfriend hospitalized, police said.
Peabody police in a statement said officers first responded in the area of 22 Endicott Street around 10:45 p.m. to a report of two people being attacked by their dog.
Officers arriving at the scene learned a dog had escaped when it chased the family cat outside. When its owners tried to stop it, the dog started to attack the owners, according to police.
Police said the woman and her boyfriend were both standing on top of a car with extensive injuries when a responding officer got to the scene.
“The male party was bleeding heavily,” police said. “The dog was still acting in an aggressive manner, trying to get to both parties.”
Police said the woman and her boyfriend tried to get down from the car as the police officer parked his cruiser. At that point, police said the dog started to attack again, grabbing the woman and shaking her.
“The officer felt the female party was in danger of serious bodily injury or death,” police said. “The officer used his service firearm to neutralize the dog.”
Both the woman and her boyfriend were taken to an area hospital on Thursday night.
7NEWS later spoke to the woman’s father on Friday morning who said she is shaken up.
“They were on top of the car with the dog trying to do whatever he was trying to do,” the father, Ganesh Boodoosingh, said.
Boodoosingh continued, saying his daughter and her boyfriend are expected to be okay as they recover from their injuries.
“She got bit a couple of times,” he said. “The boyfriend is in the hospital. As far as I know this morning, they said he’s doing fine.”
Peabody police described the injuries to the two victims in this incident as “serious.”
The woman had been released from the hospital as of Friday morning. The boyfriend was still being treated.
Peabody police said an investigation into this incident was ongoing as of around 11 a.m.
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