Police shoot and kill pit bull near airport

Potato chips were apparently not enough to placate a pit bull on Sunday, which reportedly bit one officer and lunged at others before it was shot and killed. According to police reports from the South Bend Regional Airport and St. Joseph County officers, the bizarre incident started just after 3 a.m. Sunday, when an Airport Authority officer spotted two dogs on the south side of the intersection of Lincoln Way West and Lexington Avenue. The officer was patrolling the area and stepped out of his vehicle after spotting the two pit bulls, a brown female and a black male. As the officer approached the female dog, he said the black dog ran around his car and came back to bite the officer in the leg. The Airport Authority officer, seeking backup, called St. Joseph County police and the Humane Society of St. Joseph County to remove the dog. According to Sgt. Bill Redman, St. Joseph County police spokesman, a county officer arrived to find the two dogs but was unable to get out of the vehicle as the male dog kept lunging at his driver’s side door. Hoping to keep the dog calm until Humane Society workers arrived, the officer reported that he threw potato chips out the car window, which the dog ate. Redman said Humane Society workers attempted to capture the dog using a noose-pole, but the dog attacked the stick and lunged at the worker’s van. The black pitbull then began running north toward the airport, Redman said, and police became fearful that it could hurt someone coming out of the terminal. Redman said an officer, after rolling down his driver’s side window, then shot the pitbull, killing it. Humane Society workers were able to capture the female dog and, although neither dog had identification, the female dog reportedly had an identifying microchip imbedded in its body. South Bend Regional Airport Director John Schalliol said the Airport Authority officer received minor cuts on his leg but was able to return to work shortly after the incident. Staff writer Dave Stephens: dstephens@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6209