GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The police K9 stabbed by a suspect on Saturday is expected to make a full recovery, but may never work again, said the Grand Rapids Police Department.
K9 Digo was identified by the department as the police dog injured in the confrontation with a man that ended with officers shooting and killing the suspect.
Digo was released by officers to try to subdue the man before they fired their guns. The suspect stabbed the dog with a knife, said police. Digo's protective vest had evidence of multiple strikes by the knife, many of which could have been fatal, said Deputy Chief P.J. Baker.
The suspect did connect with a blow to Digo's head, leaving a serious wound that the dog was rushed to an animal emergency hospital for, said police.
Digo was released from the hospital and is recovering at home with his handler, said Baker. It won't be clear whether the dog will return to the force until he can be evaluated after he heals.
A deadly encounter
The situation started Saturday, May 30, around 1:30 p.m., when a man reportedly threatened family members with a knife. Officers arrived at the home on Alpine Avenue, greeted by the man throwing a Molotov cocktail at them. It ignited on a police cruiser.
Grand Rapids
GRPD: Man shot and killed after throwing Molotov cocktail, stabbing police K9
The man was able to run from officers, then tried to steal a person's car at knife-point. The driver was able to thwart the attempted carjacking, according to police.
The suspect tried to break into a home Widdicomb Avenue near 12 Street, but police caught up to him before he got inside. That's when officer sent Digo in to take the man down and the dog was stabbed.
Officers used other, unspecified less-lethal options to stop the man, who charged the officers, said police. Ultimately, police shot the man, killing him in the home's backyard.
FOX 17 spoke with Taylor, the woman who lives in that home. She described the confrontation between the suspect and the officers.
“Probably about 15, 20 seconds later, they rushed to the backyard. I heard ‘he's here, he's here.’ I thought they were in the neighbor's yard because my yard is completely fenced in, and it turns out he was in my backyard, because 5, 10 seconds later I heard gunshots," Taylor said. "I had a tank in front of my house, I had a police dog, I had at least 20 officers."
Watch: Neighbor describes deadly officer-involved shooting
“There's two bullet holes in my house, one is very close to where the window was that I was standing at, where I saw the police officer, and I was standing right there when the gunshots went off," Taylor said. “They literally drug his body from the dirt under my landlord's stairs onto my back porch. There's multiple blood stains in my cement.”
As of Monday afternoon, police had not identified the suspect.
