Puppy Attacks Rapist: 'I Think He Saved My Life,' Victim Says

RED HOOK, BROOKLYN — A local puppy named Apollo is being hailed as a hero this week for attacking a "strange man" who reportedly tried to rape a young woman in a Red Hook park late Monday night.

The man was trying to rape the 18-year-old who was walking the puppy.

Maya Fairweather decided to take Apollo — a playful and "usually very friendly" puppy belonging to her boyfriend — on a walk around 10 p.m., she told the New York Post. (Patch does not usually name victims of rape or attempted rape. However, in this case, Fairweather was open about her identity with the Post.)

When she reached a grassy stretch of the Red Hook Recreation Area, near Bay and Clinton streets, the teen said she took Apollo of his leash to let him run around.

That's when she felt a tug on her headphones.

“I thought it was my boyfriend grabbing me," Fairweather told the Post, "so I turned around and smiled — but it wasn’t my boyfriend.”

The man grabbed her, pushed her to the ground and tried to pull off her pants, she said. “I just closed my eyes, because they say that if you see their face, they will kill you," she said. "I froze. I was really scared.”

The NYPD confirmed to Patch that an 18-year-old female was "walking in the park with her dog" on the night of Nov. 28 when a "perp grabbed her from behind and attempted to rape her."

Fairweather said she was bracing for the worst — until Apollo ran over from where he was playing and sunk his teeth into the man's leg.

“I heard him say, ‘F--k!’ and I was able to run away," Fairweather told the Post.

Of the pit bull puppy, she said: "I think he saved my life."

Apollo belongs to Fairweather's boyfriend, Carlos Guzman. His mom, Sonia Valcarcel, said she originally didn't like the dog. But after he saved Fairweather, she said, "You have to give him credit."

“The dog is a hero," Valcarcel told the Post. "He protected her."

NYPD detectives were still searching Friday for the man who tried to rape Fairweather.

Police data shows that there have been five rapes reported in Red Hook so far this year (up from four rapes reported by this time last year), including another rape in the same park where Fairweather was attacked.

Around 2 a.m. on Aug. 21, police said, a 26-year-old woman was raped by a stranger in the back of a vehicle near Bay and Henry streets.

The rape suspects in both cases — believed to be two different men — are still on the loose, police said.

Pictured: The Red Hook Recreation Area. Image via Google Maps