Great Dane Helps Stop Sex Attack In Logan Square

A man walking his dog in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood Thursday afternoon ended up preventing a 14-year-old girl from being sexually attacked, police say.

Just before 5 p.m., the girl got off the Diversey Avenue bus and was walking when she noticed a man following her, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The man, later identified as Larry E. Smith, allegedly ran toward her, threw her on the ground and began forcibly removing her clothing and his pants, police told the paper.

The girl screamed, and a neighbor walking his Great Dane nearby came running.

"They came running over and the offender took off," Shakespeare District police Capt. Marc Buslik told the Sun-Times. "But the neighbor and the dog cornered him in the alley."

The man and his dog were able to keep Smith in the alley until police arrived.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Smith, 28, was charged with attempted criminal sexual assault. He has a police record including a 2009 conviction for public indecency.

The 14-year-old was not seriously injured.