Thor, the dog, foils robbery at petrol station in Maine

Man's best friend saves the day

(Saco Police Department)

Police in a small town in Maine have released astonishing CCTV of the moment a dog halted an attempted robbery at a petrol station.

Police report the event took place in the afternoon of Monday 9 February, when a lone gunman tried to rob the employee of Holly's Gas on Portland Road in Saco, a town of about 18,000 people in the northeastern United States.

The video shows Justin Ireland's pit bull-boxer mix, Thor, biting the robber's hand as he tries to grab Ireland and then nabbing the would-be thief on both sides of the face. Police released the video - not to show Thor's amazing defence of his owner - but to help generate information about the attacker. Many witnesses have come forward about the car the man was driving.

"We had a couple other people come forward who had seen the vehicle parked on the side of the road,” Deputy Chief Jeffrey Holland told the Portland Press Herald.

According to reports, Ireland at first thought the man approaching his office had covered his face to protect against the cold. Yet he soon pulled out a gun and began shoving Ireland, asking him to put money in a carrier bag. Ireland released Thor, his dog, when the thief began to push him.

The robber ran away as Thor pounced and Ireland followed the man shortly afterwards, although he could not catch the man before he jumped into a different vehicle, a pickup truck.

The suspect is described as a white male, 5ft10in, wearing a navy blue hoodie.

Video courtesy of Saco Police Department.