Police kill two large dogs that attacked man near Mill Creek Park

YOUNGSTOWN — A retired firefighter out walking his small dog near Mill Creek Park this morning was attacked by two large Cane Corso dogs who were then shot by police — one in the back yard of a Mahoning County common pleas judge on Canfield Road.

David Roch, 55, who suffered a hand injury, was in surgery at St. Elizabeth Health Center.

Cane Corso is a mastiff breed.

City Patrolman Tony Tulipano said Roche lifted his dog to protect it when the Corsos — the male weighed 170 pounds and the female weighed 140 — approached to attack it.

The bigger dogs then concentrated on Roche. A Mill Creek MetroParks police officer shot and killed one dog behind Judge Maureen A. Cronin’s house. The second dog ran near Kiawatha Drive and was shot and killed by city Patrolman Matt Willis, reports show.