A dog owner is now facing charges after video shows the animal attacking a security guard inside the San Francisco Main Library.
The incident happened on the third floor of the library where a dog is seen biting and not letting go of a security guard. Meanwhile another guard tries to knock the dog away with a stick and pepper spray.
Neither tactic gets the dog to let go.
“It’s never happened before,” said city librarian Michael Lambert.
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But Sunday, just before 6 p.m., it did happen when security guards were letting people know it was almost closing time.
“Apparently the individual was unresponsive and in the process of trying to get his attention, his dog unexpectedly attacked a security guard,” said Lambert
The dog's owner finally woke up and helped put an end to this violent scene. Lambert said the security guard is seriously injured.
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The dog owner has been cited for failure to control his animal and the dog is in the custody of Animal Care and Control.
Library patrons were shaken by what happened.
“It makes me nervous but unfortunately I’m not surprised because things like this happen quite frequently,” said Lauren Goff of San Francisco. “And I see those guys are forced to let in a lot of guys who they otherwise would not let in and it’s very unfortunate.”
The library says service animals are welcome, but bad behavior is not tolerated.
“It makes me really sad because it is a service animal,” said Carisa Puente of San Francisco. “They are supposed to be trained and proved to be safe in public places so it’s really upsetting.“
Moving forward, Lambert is consulting with the mayor's disability advisors and with Animal Care and Control to make sure this first dog attack is the last.
“We are going to exhaust every option we have to prevent this from ever happening again,” said Lambert.
