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Dallas police K-9 hospitalized for heat-related illness
A Dallas police K-9 was rushed to an emergency vet hospital on Tuesday because of a heat-related medical emergency.
DALLAS - A Dallas Police K-9 was taken to an emergency vet after a heat-related emergency. Police have not named the K-9 but say he was helping to locate suspects in Far East Dallas.
A witness told FOX 4 that her family is assuming the suspect is still at large.
What we know:
According to FOX 4 sources and the Dallas Police Department, the K-9 was helping officers search for multiple suspects on Tuesday afternoon near the intersection of Ferguson and Highland roads in Far East Dallas.
At some point during the search, the K-9 suffered a heat-related emergency and was rushed to the nearby Casa Linda Animal Clinic.
SKY 4 later followed a procession of police vehicles that appeared to be taking the dog to MedVet, which is an emergency veterinary hospital in Dallas.
The official high temperature at DFW Airport on Tuesday was 103 degrees, according to the FOX 4 Weather team.
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What they're saying:
Valeria Martinez and her family thought it was a normal traffic stop. Their security cameras caught a red SUV with two men sitting on the curb talking to Dallas police officers.
Martinez said when police went to arrest the men, one of them took off.
"My mom actually saw through the window, she saw someone getting stopped by police," said Martinez. "He actually hit the officer with like his elbow and then ran off."
Dallas police haven't shared any information about the arrests or what led officers to stop the car in the first place.
But Dallas police did say officers called for back up to search for the suspect.
Martinez says two K-9 units showed up in addition to several more officers.
"They asked if he jumped the fence into our backyard, and we were like ‘no’," said Martinez.
"I know he was trying to do his job, but in this weather it’s really hard," said Martinez.
It's not clear how long the K-9 was working in the heat, but Martinez says police searched the area for a couple of hours.
"We actually went to the back to look at the cameras and that’s when he came out, and he was like doing his job, he was going back and forth, trying to smell him [the suspect] out. Then, after that, we saw that they took him to the car, so we just assumed he was done, but we didn’t assume it was that serious."
Now that she knows what happened, Martinez hopes the k-9 officer will recover.
"I hope he really gets better, because it’s really sad to hear that."
What's next:
Dallas police haven't shared any updates about the suspect or the condition of the K-9. All they would say is that this is still an active call and information is limited.
Dallas police have only confirmed that the dog "experienced a heat-related illness and was taken to a veterinarian for medical evaluation."
Police did not release any information about the suspects they were looking for or whether they were arrested.
We asked Dallas police if there are any policies or procedures in place when it comes to K-9 officers doing their job in this extreme heat. They didn't share any information on that or share which K-9 officer was taken to the vet.
The Source: The information in this story comes from the Dallas Police Department, FOX 4 photojournalist Terry Van Sickle, and SKY 4.