Bipolar junction transistor drawing more than 1 amp

Question

I am trying to use a bipolar junction transistor to sink the current on an output pin:

^{simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab}

But when the base of Q1 is connected to 0V, and the base of Q2 is connected to 5V, there seems to be a large amount of current going through Q2 (1.28 amps). The only possible path that the current could take is from the base of Q2 to the emitter of Q2.

UPDATE: I meant to say "The only possible path that the current could take is from the base of Q2 to the collector of Q2."

Answer 1

You need resistors in the base leads of the transistors to limit base current, and thus collector/emitter current. Also, an NPN emitter follower can only pull things up - it can't pull things down. – Peter Bennett

Thanks!

I fixed the problem by adding a 10K resistor to the base. I also rearranged the transistors so that Q2 is able to pull the output down; the collector of Q2 is connected to the output, and the emitter of Q2 is connected to GND.