Wanted SB felon caught with the help of his ex's pit bull

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A South Bend man is behind bars tonight after causing quite the commotion early this morning in a South Bend neighborhood.

Police say 32-year-old Brandon Talton broke into his ex-girlfriend's house on the city's southwest side side.

He apparently put up a fight not only with police, but with the home owner's two pit bulls.

The situation happened in the 1700 block of Swygart Avenue, which is just north of State Road 23.

Police say when Talton forced his way into the woman's house her two pit bulls went into action attacking him.

She was able to call 911, and when police arrived they witnessed one of the dogs still aggressively attacking his arm.

According to Sgt. Bill Kraus, the woman tried to pull her dog off of Talton, but the dog quickly turned on her and bit her left forearm.

That's when Talton tried to flee and the dog immediately went back to attacking him.

With the dog still biting him he was able to make his way to a bedroom where he barricaded himself for close to a half an hour.

Sgt. Kraus said, "Upon arrival of the officers the female came running out to them saying he was still in the house. At that time the suspect ran into a nearby bedroom and barricaded himself inside the bedroom to keep the police out."

Officers were quickly able to break out a window to communicate with Talton and within a half an hour Sgt. Kraus said they were able to coax him into surrendering.

However they first came up with a plan to keep the dog from running out with Talton.

"The dog calmed down enough that we were able to rig an electrical cord around the collar and create like a leash and held the leash out through the window so he could come out without the dog charging after him, we didn't want to hurt the dog. It took about a half hour for him to finally come out." said Sgt. Kraus.

This isn't the first time Talton has been in trouble with the law, in fact today he was featured in the wanted section of the newspaper for two felony battery counts and a count of failure to appear.

ABC 57 went door to door in the 1700 block and spoke to neighbors about the early morning situation. However, none of the people we spoke to were willing to go on camera.

The victim's brother who lives in the same neighborhood said his sister and Talton used to date and live at the home together. He also said since they broke up Talton has broken into his sister's home a couple of times.

Another neighbor said his wife woke him up as she was getting ready for work and discovered close to 8 police cars outside as officers had their guns drawn surrounding the home.

The victim went to the hospital for treatment of the wounds she suffered during the early morning incident. She said she has owned both of her pit bulls for a while and was glad she had them at the house with her this morning. She wished to not be identified.

As for the suspect, Sgt. Kraus said, "We arrested him on burglary, he was treated at Memorial Hospital for dog wounds and then booked in the County Jail and that's where he is now."