Man Threatens Cop With Chainsaw

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Chainsaw Threats Don't Prevent Arrest

Deputy kills pit bull in executing warrant

Seneca, Illinois - A chainsaw-wielding resident cut short Seneca Police Chief Ray Meglan's plans to attend a wedding Saturday.

Keith Mackowiak, 38, 365 Seneca Place, also lost his pet pit bull in the incident, and was cited with aggravated assault on a police officer and with domestic battery.

Mackowiak was released from the La Salle County Jail in Ottawa after his mother posted 10 percent of his $25,000 bond, the chief said.

Meglan was dressed for the wedding when fellow officers called for his assistance in a domestic dispute at the Mackowiak home at about 3 p.m. Saturday.

Things livened up after Mackowiak refused to open the door and speak with officers.

"I called out to him he was under arrest for domestic battery, and he came through the door with a chainsaw," said Meglan. "He started the chainsaw and came toward me with it, saying he was going to cut me to pieces, and then he was going to cut the other officer's head off."

The chief backed away.

"Then I thought I'd just go back and say to the guy, 'C'mon, you've got to go with us. You're under arrest,' and he'd come," said Meglan. "Well, he never."

"He started the chainsaw twice on us. I kept telling him to put it down, and he said he was going to cut us to pieces - cut our heads off. Then he went back into the house, closed the door and locked it."

Meglan returned to the police department and called the La Salle County state's attorney for an arrest warrant. He then called for backup officers from the Marseilles Police Department and La Salle County Sheriff's Department.

Mackowiak slipped out the back door of his home, slipped past the officers, and fled into the nearby timber. Police received reports he was seen at a service station downtown, then at the carnival on Main Street.

"We checked, and he wasn't either place. Then an officer stationed at his home said he just walked out of the woods toward the house. He saw the officer, and took off back into the woods again," said Meglan.

Two officers chased Mackowiak out of the trees to his house, and ended up going into the home after him.

"The guy let his pit bull out to attack the officers, and a deputy shot it, and arrested him," said Meglan.

"They shot the dog dead. The dog was just about on the deputy when he shot it. The deputy tried spraying the dog first, but it just kept coming."

Meglan said officers knew Mackowiak had the pit bull.

"We told him to put the pit bulls up. He had two pit bulls in there, plus three pups," said the chief.

Meglan said police answer domestic calls to the Mackowiak home frequently. The home is owned by his mother.

"We kept telling his live-in girlfriend, 'You'll have to leave or he's going to kill you,'" Meglan noted.

"We talked to the mother Saturday, and told her to have the girlfriend remove her belongings from the home - that she was no longer allowed in the house, and would be arrested if she returned.

"She said, 'I'm going - I'm leaving.'"

Meglan said the chainsaw incident was a first in his career in law enforcement.

"I never made it to the wedding either," he added.

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