Dog Saved Owner From Crazy Man On The Street

Описание: This woman was being dragged into an alley at knifepoint, nobody heard her screaming, nobody stopped to help, but her 60-pound dog became a weapon—meet Emily Watson, a 28-year-old nurse from Seattle, Washington who works the night shift at Seattle General Hospital 7 PM to 7 AM and has been doing it for three years, and Emily lives alone in a small apartment in Capitol Hill, and two years ago she adopted a dog from a local rescue, a Pit Bull mix named Duke, about 60 pounds with a blocky head and a goofy smile, and people cross the street when they see Duke coming, parents pull their kids away, other dog owners clutch their pets closer, but Emily knows the truth, Duke is terrified of thunderstorms, cries when Emily leaves for work, and once ran away from a chihuahua at the dog park, and the rescue told Emily that Duke had been surrendered by his previous owner with a note that said "Too gentle, not aggressive enough for protection, disappointing as a guard dog." It was Thursday, November 9th, and Emily had just finished a brutal 12-hour shift, they'd been understaffed, she'd dealt with two code blues and a traumatic car accident and she was exhausted, physically and emotionally drained, and she got home around 7:45 AM, and normally she'd just collapse into bed but Duke needed his morning walk and Emily never skipped Duke's walks no matter how tired she was, so she put on Duke's leash, grabbed her keys and phone, and headed out into the cold Seattle morning, and the streets were quiet, most people were already at work, kids were at school, and the neighborhood felt empty and still. Emily's normal route was down Madison Street to the park but there was construction blocking the sidewalk, so she took a detour down a side street she didn't usually use, a narrow street lined with old buildings and dumpsters and not much foot traffic, and Duke was walking beside her, sniffing everything, tail wagging, completely relaxed, and Emily was thinking about her patients, replaying the night shift in her head, not really paying attention to her surroundings, and she didn't notice the man standing in the doorway of an abandoned building about 30 feet ahead, didn't notice him watching her, didn't notice him start walking toward her. Emily was checking her phone, texting her mom that she'd gotten home safe, when she heard footsteps behind her, fast footsteps, running, and before she could turn around someone grabbed her from behind, wrapped an arm around her throat, and she felt something cold and sharp press against her ribs, a knife, and a man's voice in her ear, rough and slurred, smelling like alcohol and cigarettes: "Don't scream, don't fight, give me your phone and your wallet right now," and Emily's training as a nurse kicked in, stay calm, assess the situation, don't escalate, and she said in a shaky voice "Okay okay just don't hurt me," and she started to reach for her purse with trembling hands. But the man was high on something, Emily could tell from his erratic movements, his dilated pupils when she glimpsed his face, and he wasn't satisfied with just robbery, he started dragging her backward toward the alley between two buildings, and Emily realized with ice-cold terror that this wasn't just a mugging, this was something worse, and she started to struggle, started to scream, and the man tightened his grip on her throat cutting off her air, and he pressed the knife harder against her side and hissed "Shut up or I'll gut you right here," and Emily's vision started to tunnel, started to go dark from lack of oxygen. Duke had been standing there frozen during the initial attack, confused, his tail between his legs, because Duke had never seen violence before, had never been trained to protect, had never shown any aggression in his entire life, but when Emily started choking, when she couldn't breathe, when she made this horrible gasping sound trying to get air, something switched in Duke, and the gentle goofy thunder-afraid dog disappeared, and what emerged was something primal, something terrifying, and Duke's lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl Emily had never heard, a deep rumbling growl that came from somewhere ancient and protective, and then Duke launched himself at the attacker. Duke hit the man with full force, 60 pounds of muscle and fury, and his jaws clamped down on the man's arm, the arm holding the knife, and the man screamed and let go of Emily, and Emily fell forward gasping and coughing, and she turned around and saw Duke shaking the man's arm violently, the way terriers shake rats, and the knife clattered to the ground, and the man was screaming "Get it off me! Get this fucking dog off me!" and he was trying to punch Duke.