Copyright 2005 Newsday, Inc.
Newsday
TRENTON, N.J. - Lucy the firehouse dog thought she was helping out when she ran toward an undercover police narcotics sting.
But instead, the 40-pound black mutt found herself dodging gunfire during her midday Friday bathroom break outside the Newark fire station that’s her home.
Lucy was over at her usual hangout across the street from the Avon Avenue Fire Station when she came across officers making an arrest, according to police.
She bounded toward one of the officers. The plainclothes officer, who didn’t recognize the dog, thought she was trying to attack him and fired a single shot at Lucy, missing her.
When the battalion chief arrived to investigate, Lucy was lying sheepishly on her homemade plywood dog bed near the firehouse door. She was shaken, but not injured.
Some firefighters joked that Lucy was just trying to help out the police officer, while others thought she was upset about having her noon bathroom break interrupted.
“She was doing her business,” said Capt. Ed Pimentel. “She got scared and she growled and chased the cop.”
The firefighters said 2-year-old Lucy looks meaner than she really is. As their firehouse companion, the dogs guards the station and rides along on many fire calls.
“This dog wouldn’t hurt a fly,” said Fire Department spokesman Thaddeus Kennedy.
Lucy came to the firehouse last winter when a family in the neighborhood couldn’t keep her and has remained a favorite of the neighborhood children.