By Josh Shaffer
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
CARY, N.C. — K-9 Officer Dakota, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois working for the Cary Police Department, was injured and hospitalized Friday after being struck by a fleeing robbery suspect’s truck.
A man asked to test-drive a Ford Truck at the Rick Hendricks dealership on U.S. 64 Friday and pulled out a gun during the drive, demanding that the sales employee get out, police said in a news release Saturday.
Officers tracked the truck to Raleigh and, along with RPD officers, pursued it back to Bliss Convenience Store in Cary.
Multiple officers approached the truck, including Animal Control Officer Michael Herrell and Dakota. The suspect ignored police demands and sped toward the officers, forcing Herrell to dive out of the way. He was unable to pull Dakota out of the way in time, police said.
The truck was later recovered in Raleigh and the suspect, identified as Joshua Andrei Whittlesey, 24, was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals at an apartment complex in Burlington, police said.
Dakota remains in stable condition at an emergency veterinarian.
“She is much more than a dog,” Sgt. Kenric Alexander told WTVD. “Once these K-9s complete training and come into the police department, they become family and they’re treated as family so anything that happens to a police K-9 is something that happens to a police officer.
Whittlesey faces charges of assaulting a law enforcement agency animal, assault on law enforcement officers, robbery with a dangerous weapon, felony fleeing to elude arrest, possession of a firearm by a felon, larceny of motor vehicle, assault by pointing a gun, hit and run, and resisting, delaying and obstructing an officer.
Police1 Staff contributed to this report.
—
©2023 Raleigh News & Observer.
Visit newsobserver.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.