Milford Fonza spent 30 years saving other people's lives as a fire chief. But on Monday he needed a first responder himself.
Officer Matt Fenner, 23, happened to be driving by at the end of his shift at 4 a.m. from the Glendora Police Department when he saw two pit bulls attacking Fonza.
"Mr. Fonza was in pretty bad shape," said Fenner. "I remember seeing his face and just the look of fear I could see in his eyes, and just knew that it was a serious situation."
The pit bulls attacked Fonza just a couple blocks away from his house. He tried to climb the wall, but they pulled him back down. And even though he was screaming, no one called 911.
"I just did what anybody would have done in the same situation," said Fenner. "I just saw someone needed help, and I stepped up and I helped him. It was just kind of me just being there, that's all."
"He got out of the car, the dogs quit focusing on me and came towards him," said Fonza. "I just came apart at that time because I knew that I was going to live."
Fenner yelled to distract the dogs, hit one with his car and shot the other- killing them both. By that time, Fonza was down on the ground with bites all over his body and a broken arm.
"I had no more strength to keep fighting," said Fonza. "He came at the right time, because if he hadn't been there at that time, I had no more fight left in me."
Fonza is recovering. Even though his walking stick was shredded to pieces by the dogs, he says he still plans to take his early morning walks. And now he has two new canes to do it- gifts from the police department and a citizen of Glendora.
And Fenner has new friends for life.
"He was the guardian angel," said Fonza's daughter Lolita Fonza Galvin. "I mean there's no other way to describe him."
