The owner of a dog that was stabbed over the weekend is grateful to two men who stepped in to help.
Copper, a 10-year-old Golden Retriever, is recovering at home after he was stabbed multiple times by a man who was suspected in another stabbing that occurred a few blocks away.
Rose Steinmeier said she was walking Copper along West 4th Avenue near Yew Street when she saw a man covered in blood. She tried to cross the street to avoid him, but Copper stopped to smell a pole.
The man then attacked Copper, Steinmeier said.
“He actually lifted his harness and started stabbing at his spine.”
A customer at a nearby 49th Parallel Cafe saw what was happening and rushed to subdue the attacker using a travel coffee mug.
“He hit the guy on the head,” Steinmeier said. “He put himself within striking distance of the knife.”
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Jonathan Ting said he was working behind the till at 49th Parallel when he rushed out to help.
After the customer struck the attacker, Ting went out “to grab the dog and get the dog to safety,” he said.
“I’m not going to lie, I was pretty scared, but I guess it needed to be done,” Ting said.
“As an animal lover, I couldn’t just stand there. I had to do something about it.”
After a physical struggle, police brought the suspect under control with a beanbag gun.
A man in his 20s has been arrested, accused of stabbing his former roommate and a dog.
Police say moments before the dog was stabbed, they were alerted to an attack nearby on West 13th Ave. and Arbutus St., where they found a man in his late 20s suffering from stab wounds.
He was rushed to hospital in serious condition.
Steinmeier is grateful that two strangers were willing to rush to Copper’s aid.
“I’m so thankful that people are willing to put themselves in these situations to be helpful, not just to me but to anybody who needs the assistance,” she said.
Copper suffered three puncture wounds and other minor injuries, Steinmeier said.
“He’s going to be fine.”
— With files from Tanya Beja and Sean Boynton