Two Edgewater police officers were attacked this afternoon by a Rottweiler that one of the officers then shot and killed.
The melee started just after 2 p.m. when a postal carrier called and said three large dogs had crashed through a window screen and chased him. He was pinned on a porch in the 2400 block of Newland Street, police said in a media release.
When police arrived, they found two teenaged girls trying to control the Rottweiler and a pit bull.
The Rottweiler slipped lose, “ran full speed” toward the officers and pounced on one of them, police said.
The dog bit him several times on the thigh before the officer escaped. The Rottweiler then turned on the other officer, pinned him against his cruiser, “and the officer pulled his service weapon and shot the dog one time in the head after being bit by the dog,” police said in a media release.
Both officers were treated by paramedics for their injuries.
The owner’s name was not released tonight because the cause is still under investigation, according to an e-mail from Edgewater police spokesman Steve Davis.
Police responded to a complaint about the same dogs in May, and had issued a warning to the dog’s owner last year.
The U.S. Postal Service’s Denver spokesman, Al Desarro, said the case dramatically exhibits the threat to carriers and the community.
“People say, ‘Oh, my dog won’t bite,’ but we know that any large dog’s instinct is to protect,” he said. “This is an excellent example that shows it couldn’t be more important for the public to be vigilant in restraining their animals, not just in the summer months, but year-round.”
Last year, 5,669 carriers were bitten in more than 1,400 cities, leading to medical expenses of $1.2 million, according to a press release the U.S. Postal Service sent out in May during National Dog Bite Prevention Week.
The Postal Service said about 4.7 million Americans are bitten each year, and dog bites account for more than one-third of homeowners’ insurance claims, about $413 million last year.
Rottweilers and pit bulls are ranked first and second on the U.S. Postal Service’s list of dogs most likely to bite.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
