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State police K9 Bolt continues to recover after stabbing

Posted at 5:06 PM, Aug 14, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-14 18:09:39-04

MONTCALM COUNTY, Mich. -- The road to recovery continues for a Michigan State Police K9 wounded in the line of duty.   Bolt suffered knife wounds while tracking suspects in a drive-by shooting earlier this month.

The 7-year-old German Shepherd is doing well while recovering with his handler from the stab wound on his neck.  He had to get a drain tube put in and stitches to recover.

A week after helping his handler David Cardenas on a pursuit through the woods, Bolt has since had a drain tube removed.  He's still wearing a cone to protect his stitches.

Bolt is a detection dog trained to use his nose to help troopers in numerous different situations,  such as finding people of interest. It was Aug. 6 when Bolt helped locate Antonio Perez Junior and Victoria Groth.

Both are facing felony charges after a drive-by shooting in Montcalm County that led to the chase through the woods. Bolt was sent ahead of his handler to catch those suspects.

During the arrest, Cardenas and his team noticed blood on the ground but did not know Bolt had been stabbed. One of the suspects then threw something into the woods which meant Bolt’s work was not done. Bolt performed a property search to find a knife the suspect had thrown.

Bolt's handler realized he had been stabbed once Bolt found this knife. Cardenas says with no behavior change Bolt kept doing his job, finishing the course of the arrest to get his reward.

The only issues now is putting a leash on Bolt without having it rub on the scar and hurting him.

Bolt and Cardenas should be back to work next week after some similar scenario training to make sure Bolt is back up to full speed and responding properly.