Leslie “Red” Butler was reclining in her basement’s blue sofa bed, so her Yorkshire terrier named Whiskey was the first to greet the firefighter and paramedic.
For years, Colin McCann from Chesterfield County’s Fire and EMS department has visited Butler’s home in Bon Air. But Whiskey still barks at him every time.
“Traitor,” he said to the dog while bribing him with a treat to stay outside. Then McCann scurried inside, passing a hole at the bottom of the basement stairs where Butler’s head barreled through the wood panels several years ago. She had fallen down the stairs drunk.
That was back when Butler weighed about 300 pounds - and in the span of a year, called Chesterfield police and Fire and EMS dozens of times.