Hillchester Animal Hospital veterinarian Tracy Garza (left) and veterinary assistant Krystle Garcia treat the exhausted pup who led IDOT and police on an Eisenhower Expressway chase for a second day. (Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune)
The runaway pup who this morning ran the Eisenhower Expressway for the second day in a row has been caught. Three Broadview squad cars managed to trap the dog against a fence near the expressway. But when the pooch ran under one of them trying to escape, Office Antonio Santucci was able to grab it by the scruff of its neck. "He said, 'good puppy, good puppy,' scooped it up and put it in his squad car," said Sgt. Micahel Kosik, who was there at the end of the chase. The dog--apparently exhausted--promptly fell asleep in the back seat of the police car, which took him to Hillchester Animal Hospital in Hillside. There he was being treated with intravenous fluids for high fever and examined for possible injury, said veterinary technician Allison Taylor. A WGN-TV reporter in a traffic helicopter said she thought she saw that the dog had been clipped by a vehicle and spun around during one part of the chase. "He's not in the worst shape. He's OK for a dog who has been running around that long," Taylor said. The dog was to be given a chance to rest for a couple of days before being turned over to a humane society or reunited with his owner. A police officer said the dog would not be euthanized. Broadview officials told WGN-TV that the dog appeared exhausted after a marathon two-hour run that took him east and west along the Eisenhower Expressway, through the grounds of the Proviso West High School campus in west suburban Hillside and then back to the Ike. "I just laughed that he was making better time on the expressway than the cars," Kosik said. Earlier, an Illinois State Police dispatcher said troopers were using their lights and horns to ward off traffic. "Everyone is doing the best they can to get the animal off the road. Thankfully drivers are cautious and there haven't been any incidents," he said. Earlier, shortly after 6:30 a.m., two IDOT trucks appeared to have cornered the dog and blocked his escape. But he jumped over a concrete barrier into the construction zone on the inbound lane, and got away, still headed west. He narrowly missed getting hit between Mannheim and Wolf roads as IDOT trucks once again moved in. After a two-mile jaunt on the expressway, the dog ran through a large parking lot south of the expressway in Hillside and onto the grounds of Proviso West High School, where police failed to pick him up. Once again, traffic helicopters broadcast the drama.
Yesterday morning the dog appeared in the inbound lanes construction zone, exited at 1st Avenue, took a short swim in the Des Plaines River and disappeared into a forest preserve. A caller told WGN-TV he thinks the dog may be his. He said the 18-month-old dog, who goes by the name of "Boxer," ran away over the weekend. But an owner looking for "Boxer" came by the hospital later in the morning and said the dog was not his.
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