Witness To Rainbow Beach Pitbull Attack: Dogs Attacked Jogger "Like He Was a Piece of Steak"

This photo by Erica Barraca is how we prefer to think of pitbulls.

The man who alerted authorities to a New Year's Day attack of a jogger by two pitbulls at Rainbow Beach has offered details of his eyewitness account of the attack to the Sun-Times. They aren't pretty.

Stanley Lee, who lives in an apartment near the beach in the South Shore neighborhood, said he first heard the barking dogs and cries for help from Joseph Finley, and grabbed a baseball bat. When Lee arrived at the scene he said he found the dogs attacking Finley “like he was a piece of steak.”

“I hurried up and put my clothes on and grabbed a bat and ran out and saw two pit bulls just going at this man,” Lee said. “So I just started beating the dogs with the bat. I was trying to beat them dogs’ heads in. It was just horrific. And these dogs weren’t like your ordinary pit bulls. It was like they were bred exactly for fighting. They just wouldn’t let the man go.”

Police shot and killed the pitbulls after they tried to attack them. Lee said he suffered no injuries trying to stop the attack, although his bat has bite marks on it. The owner of the dogs, Jimmy Johnson, was cited twice for each dog for failing to restrain them and not having city dog licenses. Johnson faces fines of more than $2,000 when he's expected in court in March. An Animal Care and Control spokesman said the dogs escaped through an open gate.

Finley remains in critical condition at Stroger Hospital after undergoing surgery for bites on his feet and legs.

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By Chuck Sudo in News on January 3, 2012 2:40 PM 0 Comments

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Chicagoist02

If this was a chimp attack the media would be all over a ban on trained chimps - but no, it's a pit attack and the trend as of late is there is no such thing as a bad pit. I hope the media follows up on this poor guys injuries and his recovery.

These dogs were bred to fight, shake and hold, until dead.. They are over grown terriers with mastiff thrown in. It doesn't matter if they never enter a ring and it does not mean an owner "abused" them. I am offended by animal control Cherie Davis attitude that this was all just a dogs training gone wrong.

Nicholas

Well, chimps are wild animals while Pit Bulls are domesticated breeds. I don't think anyone should keep a wild animal as a pet. Still, I agree -- these dogs were bred to fight and that is what they do. These are large, powerful animals that can easily kill. I have 2 in my neighborhood. They are as nice as can be, but I still get nervous when I see them being walked by a young girl (perhaps 14) who clearly cannot stop them if they were to go on the attack.

kieller

"Johnson faces fines of more than $2,000 when he's expected in court in March." That's it, I can see that if there is only evidence that he wasn't an abusive ("bad") owner. But that kind of behavior exhibits something more, and it should be met with a larger punishment. But I guess it is innocent until proven guilty and it's difficult to prove this guy tried to train these dogs to fight, I do believe a search warrant is in order though.

archie_manning

Yeah, I don't really get the small fine either. If someone's dog (any breed) attacked me in as vicious a manner as it seems these did, I would expect the owner to be severely punished for the attack itself- not just "failure to restrain'- let alone if he was clearly breeding dogs for fighting.

As a dog owner, I am always very conscious that my dog is just that, MY dog. For anything she does, I am responsible. If she takes a shit, I clean it up or should get punished. If she was to bark all the time, I am the one who has to deal with the consequence of noise complaints. If she were to bite someone, ultimately I am the one who put the other person in danger by not controlling her. I think the police really need to hold pet owners in general more responsible.

fergmelk

Keep in mind that current legislation regarding dog bites also makes Johnson liable for Finley's medical bills.... and Finley also has an avenue to pursue Johnson civilly.

Nicholas

I do not like that breed. I know, I know -- there are no bad dogs, only bad owners. But, we are going to have loads of bad owners in a city of 3 million people. Pit Bulls tear people up and few other breeds can do such damage in so little time. I don't want to ban them, but there should perhaps be more strict requirements on owning one. Irresponsible poodle owners don't cause such damage.

fergmelk

Here's the thing. Animal Care and Control is *way* understaffed. Rumor has it that at any given time there's only one ACC van on the street for the ENTIRE city. If there were stricter requirements on owning one, how do you propose enforcing those requirements? Think of it as we do the touchy subject of handgun ownership: does tightened-up legislation on handguns in the City of Chicago stop, or even *slow* gang-bangers from being more heavily armed than our police officers? The only people those laws keep handguns (or pit bulls) out of the hands/homes of are law abiding citizens. Responsible people who have respect for themselves and others.

This guy should have his dogs taken from him. I will not disagree with that. ACC needs to patrol the neighborhood and issue more citations if what the neighbors say is true: that there are people who let their dogs out loose like that all the time down there. But since we're so worried about money these days that we're cutting back on police (and ACC officer) manpower, well, I guess we'll just all have to rely on making more laws that we can't enforce and pray people will just follow them.

And as an aside, Nicholas, poodles (especially standard poodles) are kind of assholes, quite possibly *more* prone to biting than pits, and can cause just as much damage. There's a reason they have a strong history as police and military dogs.

Nicholas

Well, the police shot the dogs, so they were taken away from the owners. And, I am fully aware that poodles bite and can be quite nasty. But, ask an emergency room doctor about pit bull bites -- they are in a whole other class of damage and much more common these days.