PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Plymouth Township police have captured a pit bull that had been on the run since Saturday after it and two cane corsos attacked a jogger, leaving him badly injured and hospitalized, police said.
Police had been searching for the dog with help from neighboring departments, including drone searches, and had urged residents to watch for it.
A resident spotted the dog Tuesday (March 31) morning at Fairgrounds Park in the city of Plymouth and called police.
“I can’t tell you the relief,” Plymouth Township Police Chief James Knittel said. “I was at the scene, there were two people walking dogs and a third walking a child in the area when we were able to capture it. Thankful nobody else got hurt.”
Officers made contact with the dog at the park, and it became aggressive, police said.
Officers shot the pit bull when it charged, but it ran off toward Ann Arbor Road, where officers later caught it and took it for medical treatment.
The original attack happened early Saturday morning.
A caller told dispatch the man had been knocked down and was “lifeless,” police said.
Responding officers reported that the dogs pursued them when they tried to stop the attack.
Officers fired their weapons, injuring at least one of the cane corsos.
One was captured at the scene, and the other was captured a short distance away, police said.
One of the cane corsos later died, police said. The other is at the Humane Society.
Residents said they were aware police were searching for the third dog.
“Very relieved, honestly,” said Payton Byron, who was at Fairgrounds Park on Tuesday. “Knowing that they were in this area, very close, is frightening.”
Knittel said investigators believe the dogs slipped out of a contained area where they lived in Plymouth Township and may have been loose the day before the attack.
He said on Friday, March 27, they had received calls about three loose dogs that matched the description of the dogs involved in the attack, but they were unable to locate them.
Police have been in contact with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, which will decide whether charges will be filed.
The owner of the dogs is said to be cooperating with the investigation.
The jogger was initially in the ICU and is now stable, police said. Knittel said officers and community members who have called the department want the man to know they are thinking of him and wishing him a speedy recovery.