K9 Assist

At around 11:55 p.m. on July 22nd, police responded to the 500 block of Saint Cloud Street to assist the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office following a pursuit their agency had initiated. The suspect driver had abandoned the vehicle in this location, and a police K9 unit responded to assist in tracking the suspect. As the officer/K9 team worked to track the suspect in the area of 6th Street and Saint Cloud Street, an uninvolved pit bull ran at the police K9 from across the street and began attacking the police dog. In order to protect the police K9 and himself from the pit bull, the K9 officer fired his duty weapon at the pit bull until the threat was stopped. The police K9 was transported to a local veterinary office receive emergency medical care. The police K9 received several stitches to bite wounds caused in the attack. We have been informed the pit bull has succumbed to injuries sustained in the incident. Police later determined that the pit bull had escaped its yard just prior to attacking the police K9.