Nov 9, 2009 6:09 pm US/Eastern
City Officer Forced To Shoot Police Dog
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
A case of mistaken identity ends in injury for a city police K-9 unit. The police-trained German shepherd was shot in the face during a violent chain of events.
Weijia Jiang has the latest from police.
Police treated an active scene at Wegworth Lane in South Baltimore Sunday night as though an officer was down. The injured is five-year-old German shepherd Blade Brown, a member of the city's K-9 unit.
"Tough, tough guy. He actually walked in the door despite his injuries," said Dr. Keisha Adkins, Falls Road Animal Hospital.
Hospital X-rays show Blade was shot in the shoulder. Police say it was a city officer who pulled the trigger in self-defense. Patrols had sent the dog after a motorist who drove through a speed checkpoint, then fled his vehicle on foot.
Police say the officer attacked was arriving to the scene from the opposite direction Blade was running. By then, the pursuit for the suspect already started and the dog thought he had found him.
"The officer didn't realize it was a police dog and fired a defensive shot, striking Blade. At the end of the day, they go through countless hours of training, but they're still animals," said Anthony Guglielmi, Baltimore City Police spokesperson.
That's exactly why some are concerned.
"I [could've] got bit, too," said Reginald Crawford. "It does worry me, especially with children in the neighborhood."
But police call the incident a fluke, saying the public should know that all 16 K-9s undergo training that costs $40,000 to $50,000 each.
"We're going to look at this, we're going to figure out how to make sure this doesn't happen again and just find some best practices, but there's no internal affairs issues here, no wrongdoing on the part of the dog or the officer," Guglielmi said.
Police have not determined if Blade will return to work, but his doctor seems certain of it.
"Blade is a tough fella. I don't know he's going to be happy with anything else. We're going to make the best recommendations for his health, but I think I see that in his future," Adkins said.
Adkins says Blade is very lucky because the bullet completely missed his organs and even his joints, which would have caused serious damage. She expects a very good recovery.
The officer who shot Blade was not injured. Police are asking anyone with information about the suspect who fled the scene to contact them.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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