‘Local hero’ Al Dukes of WFAN reports dog fight; basks in heroic glory

There are sports heroes and there are local heroes. WFAN producer and Matawan resident Al Dukes is calling himself the latter after he called 911 to report a dog fight that he saw from his apartment window.
Dukes talked about the incident on WFAN's Boomer and Gio show the next day and stated that he thought it should be featured on News 12 New Jersey – so we were happy to oblige him.
“A lot of people like to say, ‘Well I’m not a hero.’ I would say I am the hero,” jokes Dukes.
Dukes says that the incident happened Sunday morning when he noticed two dogs outside fighting and a man holding his hand bleeding.
"Then I saw another guy out of nowhere come up and he was trying to help and I thought this was kind of getting out of hand, let me call the authorities and not leave my house,” says Dukes.
The other guy was neighbor Peter Valko, who ran through a break in the fence to try to pull the dogs – a German Shepherd and a pit bull mix – apart.
“As soon as the police came, and that happened, the dog ran off and I was then able to comfort the small dog and calm him down,” Valko says.
The dogs, Benny and Hunter, belong to the same owner, who tells News 12 that they were fighting over a toy. She says that when her boyfriend went to break the dogs up, the German Shepherd bit his hand. The dogs were treated for their injuries, and are doing well.
The owner’s boyfriend was treated for a fractured finger.
Dukes says that he is glad to make his community safer. He says that he and Valko are like Batman and Robin – although he says that HE gets to be Batman.
Some heroes have a cape and others use a shield.
“Others call 9-1-1 to get even more heroes here. The more heroes, the better,” says Dukes.
Dukes says that he is ready to call 9-1-1 should the need ever rise again.