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player ready...A Yorkville boy’s ninth birthday party took a dark turn when an off-duty Illinois corrections officer shot and killed a Siberian husky that bit the birthday boy’s father, a Kendall County sheriff’s deputy.
Police reports released to the Beacon-News detail how the officer ended up firing his gun at the husky, whose owner was cited for violating three ordinances. Yorkville Police Deputy Chief Terry Klingel confirmed the involvement of the off-duty corrections officer and county deputy.
Yorkville police officers were initially dispatched at 5:35 p.m. July 21 for a report of a dog bite on the 600 block of Heustis Street.
“While enroute, Kencom dispatch advised the dog had bit a male and that two off-duty officers were holding the dog at gunpoint,” states a Yorkville police report.
The dog had bitten a man in his right forearm, and the man was now holding the dog down in the yard, dispatchers said.
Moments later, dispatchers had an update: at about 5:38 p.m., the dog — later identified as a 7-year-old Siberian Husky named Jay — had been shot.
When the reporting officer arrived, he saw paramedics treating the deputy, whose right forearm had been wrapped in gauze.
A tan and white husky lay in the side yard, between the garage and the house. The dog was already dead, the officer wrote.
The deputy was still out of breath, sweating profusely and appearing physically exhausted, requiring several breaks to catch his breath when speaking with an officer, according to reports.
Family and friends were having a birthday party for the deputy’s son when the phone rang, he told the officer.
The deputy said he had been inside the house when a neighbor called to say an unfriendly dog was running around the neighborhood. At the moment, the neighbor said, the dog was in the deputy’s driveway.
The deputy and a party guest, an off-duty state correctional officer, went outside to look for the dog. They found the dog in the side yard, between the house and garage, north of the back door.
As the deputy was trying to get the dog to leave, his wife came out the door and the dog became agitated, started to growl and showed its teeth, appearing aggressive, according to reports.
Hoping to prevent the dog from going after his wife, the deputy moved to grab its collar, at which point the husky lunged and bit his right forearm, he said. The woman ran inside to call 911.
The deputy took the husky to the ground, where the dog, barking, actively fought with him and tried to bite him again, according to reports.
His wife went back outside and found her husband struggling with the husky. She stayed in touch with dispatchers, telling them what was happening as the skirmish escalated.
As the deputy wrestled the husky, reports state the correctional officer’s wife and 3-year-old daughter walked up the driveway with their own dog. The woman heard yelling coming from the side yard area and made out the deputy’s wife calling out to keep the children back, so she took them to safety, she told police.
Frightened for the safety of his family and other children around if the husky got loose, the corrections officer said he drew his .40-caliber Glock 27 “just in case.”
The deputy continued to grapple with the dog for several minutes, until he no longer could.
“He was unable to hold him down any longer due to the dog continuously fighting to bite him and get loose,” the police officer wrote.
The correctional officer fired a single shot at the dog, striking him in the head, according to reports.
While on scene, a Yorkville officer noticed a maroon Ford F-150 pickup truck driving slowly around the neighborhood, the driver apparently looking in yards, passing the same intersection twice. Another officer flagged it down and confirmed the driver was the husky’s owner, out looking for his dog.
Jay ran out the front door after a walk and his owner had been out looking for him ever since, first on foot and then in the truck, the man said.
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The man took his dog’s body home.
He was ticketed for a dog running at large; no rabies tags; and dangerous/vicious domestic animals involving a dog bite, and is scheduled to appear 5:30 p.m. Aug. 21 at the Yorkville Police Department for a mandatory hearing. Police checked with Jay’s veterinarian, which provided records showing the husky had last been vaccinated for rabies in March 2013.
The correctional officer handed over his drivers’ license, FOID card, credentials badge and gun.
The deputy was treated at a local hospital for puncture wounds caused by the dog bite.
Citing an ongoing investigation, Klingel would not say whether a criminal damage to property report three days later on the same block occurred at the same address or was in any way related to the dog bite or shooting. In the report, a woman said at about 11:35 p.m. July 24, she saw a male hunched down near her vehicle and he took off running when she yelled at him. She said she noticed one of her tires had been punctured.