NEWS

Dog on the mend after protecting blind owner

Peter D. Kramer
pkramer@lohud.com
Brewster firefighter Marty Miller and Xtra Mart store manager Paul Schwartz carry Figo, an injured guide dog, to a fire vehicle for transport to Middlebranch Veterinary.

BREWSTER – The service dog who threw himself into the path of an oncoming mini-bus to shield his blind owner has come out of surgery and is on the mend.

A staffer at Middlebranch Veterinary in Southeast on Tuesday said the dog — who witnesses at the scene called Bigo but who is actually called "Figo," the staffer said — is "on the mend and doing extremely well."

The golden retriever's right front leg is in a splint, said the staffer, who declined to give her name.

The service dog's owner, Audrey Stone, remained in Danbury Hospital on Tuesday, with a broken ankle and elbow and three fractured ribs, said Brewster Police Chief John Del Gardo, who was busy handling media requests surrounding the dog some are calling a hero.

The veterinarian staffer said Figo would remain at Middlebranch for "as long as Audrey needs before she takes him home."

When the service dog saw an oncoming mini school bus heading for Stone, the blind woman he was trained to guide, the golden retriever's protective instincts kicked in: He threw himself at the closest part of the vehicle he could.

Police photos show the result: fur stuck to the front driver's side wheel and in the middle of Michael Neuner Drive, where the bus came to a stop after striking the pair.

The driver of the Brewster school bus, carrying two kindergartners to St. Lawrence O'Toole Childhood Learning Center, told police he didn't see the pair crossing the road as they made their way home at about 8:15 Monday morning.

But the dog saw the bus coming and leaped into action.

Stone, 62, suffered a fractured right elbow, three broken ribs, a fractured ankle and a cut to her head in the accident, said Del Gardo. The dog's leg was cut down to the bone, said Paul Schwartz, who manages the Xtra Mart gas station at the intersection and ran to the scene to help on Monday.

Paul Schwartz, manager of the Xtra Mart on North Main Street in Brewster.

"I don't know if (the driver) thought (Stone) was going to move faster, but it looks like the dog tried to take most of the hit for her," said Schwartz, who lives in Mahopac.

When Schwartz reached the crash site Stone was bleeding from her head and complaining of hip pain.

"There were 15 EMTs and people all around her and the dog didn't want to leave her side," Schwartz said. "He was flopping over to her and she didn't want him to get away from her, either. She kept screaming, 'Where's Bigo? Where's Bigo? Where's Bigo?' We kept telling her he was fine."

Schwartz and one of the EMTs bandaged the dog's right leg.

"The dog was being a good sport, really calm," Schwartz said. "He sat with me the whole time. He was limping as we put him on a big blanket on the sidewalk and it started to rain. He let us wrap up his leg without any problem. He wasn't barking or crying or yelping. But he kept pulling toward her. After she was put on a gurney and taken away, he stopped doing that. He seemed a little lost after she left."

There are rules against transporting animals in ambulances.

Schwartz said Stone, who lives on North Main Street not far from the accident site, was "very upset as she was getting in the ambulance that he wasn't with her. After she left, we put him in the (Brewster Fire Department) truck and they took him to the vet."

The bus had just come down Carmel Avenue to North Main Street and was turning onto Michael Neuner Drive when it struck Stone and her dog in the unpainted crosswalk.

"She got about to the middle of the street before the bus, which made a right on North Main and then a left onto Michael Neuner," Del Gardo said. "(The driver's) eyes were occupied on the North Main traffic."

The driver of the mini-bus was given a summons for failing to yield to a pedestrian.

Steven Moskowitz, Brewster's assistant superintendent for human resources and technology, said the driver was taken to Partners in Safety in White Plains for routine post-accident drug and alcohol testing, the results of which should be available later in the week. The driver was taken off duty while an investigation is conducted. Part of that investigation will be a review of dashboard cameras in the mini-bus and on another bus that was in the area at the time, Moskowitz said.

Moskowitz, who would not discuss the bus driver's driving history, said the two students were transported to O'Toole by another bus and their parents were notified of the accident.

Del Gardo said the bus wasn't traveling fast and stopped without leaving skidmarks on the pavement.

"The dog took a lot of the blow," Del Gardo said. "And he did not want to leave her side. He stood right with her. He was there to save her."

The chief said Stone, interviewed by an officer in her hospital bed, was happy to hear that her dog was being treated and that friends are working out the details of the dog's care while Stone recovers.