Jul 1, 2008 5:59 pm US/Eastern
K9 Back On The Job After Life-Threatening Injury
ROSEDALE, Md. (WJZ) ―
When police officers think about getting a life-threatening injury on the job, their thoughts often center on gunfire. But as
Mike Schuh reports, one specialized officer nearly died after running into razor wire.
Three weeks ago, county police saw a suspect run into some woods in Rosedale. Officer Chris Strevig and his German shepherd Jett searched behind a garage but they never saw the razor wire.
"And he came around my left side and lunged right into the wire," Strevig said.
Police pictures show Jett's hair snagged on the razor wire.
"And he yelped like I'd never heard him yelp before," he said.
Jett stopped searching and wouldn't move.
"When I saw the blood just pouring out, I picked him up and ran," he said.
With full lights and siren, the officer and Jett were driven to Towson to the pet emergency room.
"It was hitting home real quick because on the way up there, I thought he'd never be a police dog again. With the amount of blood he was losing, I didn't think it was good," Strevig said.
The ER was alerted they were coming. Strevig's uniform was covered in blood when they arrived.
"When they opened up the back hatch and popped the door and I got out with him and they just saw all the blood, their eyes got huge," he said. "They just went to work on him. It was like dog shock trauma."
There was a surgeon on site who stitched up his vein.
"That's a pretty serious thing when you have a serious blood vessel cut," said Dr. Carrie Bonacorsi.
After training, he's as strong as he ever was.
"But the fact that this is a working officer and he's serving all of us, it's really special," Bonacorsi said.
"It's nice having him back," Strevig said.
Sunday was Jett's first day back on the job. Officer Strevig says he sees no change in his personality or willingness to conduct searches.
The $4,500 to purchase Jett from breeders in Czechoslovakia came from the Wegmans food store in Hunt Valley.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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