Service dog jumps between blind owner, bus
Peter D. Kramer, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News 11 a.m. EDT June
9, 2015
A Golden Retriever trained to guide a blind woman may have saved her life. When
Figo saw a school bus coming straight at the pair, witnesses say he threw
himself at the closest part of the bus to take most of the hit for the woman.
VPC
(Photo: Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News)
Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this report misstated the
dog's name.
BREWSTER, N.Y. - When Figo the service dog saw an oncoming mini school bus
heading for Audrey 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 Avenue in New York, 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 Figo saw the bus coming and leapt 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 Brewster Police Chief John
Del
Gardo. Figo'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.
"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 Figo? Where's Figo?
Where's Figo?' We kept telling her he was fine."
Schwartz and one of the EMTs bandaged Figo's right leg.
Paul Schwartz, manager of the Xtra Mart on North Main Street in Brewster.
(Photo: Peter D. Kramer/The Journal News)
"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 (Figo) wasn't
with her. After she left, we put him in the (Brewster Fire Department) truck
and
they took him to the vet."
A staff member at Middlebranch Veterinary in Paterson confirmed that Figo was
being treated there on Monday. Brewster Police Chief Del Gardo said later that
the dog was undergoing surgery on its leg.
The bus had just come down Carmel Avenue to North Main Street and was turning
onto Michael Neuner Drive when it struck Stone and Figo 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 in her hospital bed, was happy to hear that
Figo was being treated and that friends are working out the details of the
dog's
care while Stone recovers.
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