[nfbmi-talk] Guide Dog & Blind Person Struck

[Terry D. Eagle]

Service dog jumps between blind owner, bus Peter D. Kramer, The (Westchester
County, N.Y.) 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 oc'cup'ied 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.