K-0 Officer "Dio" had been pursuing three burglary suspects when he went over the edge of the vacant building at 2311 Jefferson Street. A police sergeant found Dio, a Belgian Malinois, dead in a parking lot on the other side of a fence surrounding the building. Patrol officers who responded to the call found a door open and called for a police dog.
Dio and his handler, Officer Ronald Jenkins, went into the building where the burglars had entered and Dio immediately picked up a scent, Dio ran to a boiler where he found copper pipes that had been removed and tools used in their removal, but no people. Dio then darted toward a stairwell ahead of Jenkins. When Jenkins and another officer got to the roof, Dio was gone. The officers found two suspects on a small, raised portion of the roof. Officers found a third suspect at the edge of the roof on the side of the building where Dio went over. Dio may have lunged at the suspect and gone over the edge, or misjudged the side of the building or possibly Dio was thrown over.
The incident began Wednesday with a 911 call reporting a burglary in progress at the empty warehouse. A witness saw three men enter the building.
Police painstakingly collected evidence from the scene after the dog’s death. “We went the whole nine yards,” said Sgt. Carl Abraham. “We had crime scene (technicians) take photos and measurements. We took hair samples from the dog and got the suspects’ clothing. We did everything we could possibly think of so if someone is responsible, we know we did our job.”
Killing or disabling a police animal is a felony. No charges were filed Wednesday, and the three suspected burglars were released from jail pending more investigation.
Dio was 4 years old and had worked with Jenkins for 18 months.
