Police on pit bull patrol after attacks

Charleston police are looking for a pit bull reported to have bitten two other dogs and a woman on Daniel Island.

And Goose Creek police are looking toward a municipal court date next month to help resolve a Saturday incident in which police shot two pit bulls -- killing one dog -- after the dogs reportedly attacked other canines and charged the officers.

Monday evening on Daniel Island, Jillian Pearlman was on her way home with her husband when a dog suddenly darted out in front of their car on River Landing Drive, Charleston police said.

They stopped, thinking it might be a pup that had been missing on the island for some time. But this dog didn't want to be found. And it didn't like the company.

The dog, which looked to be a pit bull, suddenly launched a vicious attack on a nearby woman's dog, Pearlman said. Acting on instinct, Pearlman jumped into action and tried to intervene in the fracas. The pit bull bit her on the bicep.

"I couldn't just sit there and do nothing while this happened," she said. "The adrenalin was pumping through me so much that I didn't even feel the bite at first."

Pearlman, 29, said she was wearing a sweater, which helped protect her skin. The bite bruised her but didn't break the skin, she said.

Charleston police later determined that the pit bull bit a second dog during the 7:30 p.m. incident as well.

Animal control officers are still looking for the angry pit, police spokesman Charles Francis said.

Pearlman said the dog had a collar and probably belongs to someone on the island. She just hopes she doesn't run into it again. "It was very scary, very sad."

In Goose Creek, police Capt. John Grainger said that 28-year-old Kyle Daniels of Aylesbury Road, the owner of the two pit bulls that were shot, is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 17. Daniels is charged with two counts of lack of restraint and two counts of nuisance animal, and Grainger said the court will determine whether Daniels will get the surviving dog back.

Grainger maintains police acted appropriately when confronted by the pit bulls.

"The pit bulls were running loose and unsupervised, and a number of people had already encountered them. The officers were put in a position that they had to use their firearms to neutralize the threat," Grainger said.

A police report said that officers responded at 5:15 p.m. Saturday to Crowfield Boulevard, near the lakes, regarding multiple reports that two pit bulls were attacking other dogs. Officers tried to corral the pit bulls with "catch sticks," but were unable to snare the dogs, who growled and barked "in an aggressive manner" toward anyone who neared them, the report said.

An officer tossed beef jerky on the ground near his vehicle in a failed attempt to get the dogs into the police car, the report said. When several joggers came near, the officers warned them to stay away. The dogs "began to display aggressive traits by rising to their feet and with their ears back and their hair standing up," according to the report. As police called to the joggers, the pit bulls charged one officer, "at which time we both drew our service weapons and began backing away from the pit bulls while giving them loud verbal commands to back away and sit down," an officer wrote.

The dogs backed away and sat at that time, and the weapons were holstered. But a short time later the dogs charged again. "Due to my fear that it might attack me I discharged one round ... from a distance of approximately 10 feet," the officer wrote. The shot felled the dog with a fatal head wound.

The officer then shot the second dog, which the officer said was charging the other officer. The dog retreated about 15 feet from the officers, then reportedly charged again, and was shot again. The injured dog fled down a bike path and was eventually cornered in a backyard and sent to a veterinarian for treatment, the report said.

Police obtained statements from area pet owners who described attacks on their dogs. One person told police he chased the pit bulls off with a shovel, and another said she broke up a dog fight by throwing things at them and spraying them with a water hose.