Elgin mayor fights off pit bull attack

Elgin Mayor Ed Schock fought off a pair of pit bulls he said tried to attack him and his German shepherd Thursday night.

"I kicked one and hit the other with the leash," said Schock, a 63-year-old retired teacher. "I was concerned about, one, my dog being bitten and, two, myself being bitten."

Neither Schock nor his dog was injured or sought medical attention.

The incident marks the second time in as many months that a pair of pit bulls have attacked an Elgin resident.

Police shot two pit bulls over the Memorial Day weekend that scratched and bit a 9-year-old boy in Festival Park, then charged at officers.

That happened just a couple days shy of a new set of regulations going into effect that classify any dog that attacks another dog or person as "dangerous," and triggering added regulations for the owner of such an animal.

Thursday night's episode wasn't nearly as dramatic.

Schock said he and his 2-year-old dog, Rako, had been taking their nightly walk around his neighborhood on the city's northeast side.

Fifteen minutes into the walk at 9:29 p.m., they were passing by a house in the 200 block of Plum Street, roughly five blocks away from Schock's home.

Suddenly, a pair of untethered pit bulls leapt from the porch, away from the person who was with them and at Schock and Rako, Schock said.

Shock and Rako retreated behind a tree while the dogs barked at each other.

One of the pit bulls tried circling around the pair, then lunged at the mayor and his dog, Schock said.

That's when Schock kicked it, he said, adding that neither he nor Rako was bitten.

When that dog ran away, the mayor whacked the other one with his dog's leather leash.

That dog ran away as well and the owner came down and collected the dogs, Schock said.

The entire encounter lasted about 15 seconds, Schock said.

"My whole point wasn't to hurt or not hurt, it was that people should be able to walk by the front sidewalk without having dogs chase them," Schock said. "Or scaring people."

Schock has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years and said he's never seen the two dogs before, as their owners just moved in a few weeks go.

He also said he never would not have called police, but the owner yelled at him for kicking and hitting her dogs. He told her to keep them on a leash.

According to a police report, the owner says one of the dogs named Chico ran off the porch and barked at Schock and Rako from a distance of five feet distance, but never jumped at the pair.

She said the other dog never went beyond the porch's front steps.

The owner, not named in reports, was written up for five citations: one a dangerous dog ticket, one for biting/attacking, two for having no collars or tags on the dogs and one more for keeping them loose.

She is due in court July 27 at the Elgin Branch Court.

Under the new city law that went into effect June 1, the biting/attacking comes with a $1,000 fine, while the others range between $50 and $750 in fines, city spokeswoman Sue Olafson said.

Earlier this year, Councilman John Prigge championed a proposed law that would have automatically classified all pit bulls as dangerous dogs. But the council backed off after pit bull owners pleaded with the city to "punish the deed, not the breed."

For his part, Schock Friday said he has no intention of revising the law to specifically target them.

"I think we have to let the ordinance work," he said. "It could have been any breed of dog."