His name is Duke and he can fly.
While he currently serves with the Corona Police Department in California he also did a tour of duty in Iraq with the Marine Corps.
But the most incredible part? Duke is a dog. A 5-year-old Belgian Malinois, to be exact.
And you do NOT want to mess with Duke.
A suspect fleeing police earlier in December learned that the hard way.
It all started off as an attempt by police to confront a suspect in a stalking case. But the man in question, 31-year-old Julio Vasquez, was not in a talking mood. According to CBS News Los Angeles, he was also wanted in connection with a number of domestic violence-related offenses.
A report from ABC7 News stated that Vasquez had violated a restraining order taken out by his estranged wife. On Friday, December 20th, he allegedly showed up to her workplace and tried to hit her with his truck.
Later that day, Fontana Police were called to the 17300 block of Valley Boulevard in Fontana, California at about midnight when someone spotted Vasquez. While there are conflicting accounts of what happened in between, it appears that the suspect got in his vehicle and tried to leave the scene, refusing to stop for police. He then led them on a vehicular pursuit.
The California Highway Patrol was called in to assist in the chase, and deployed spike strips somewhere along the suspect’s path over the 10, 57 and 91 freeways, according to police. It appears he hit a spike strip on the 15 freeway and police also employed what’s called a “pit maneuver” in which they force a fleeing vehicle to turn sideways and come to a stop.
Alas, Vasquez still didn’t seem willing to cooperate with the police and refused to exit his vehicle. That’s when an officer fired a bean bag round into the driver’s side window, shattering the glass.
According to Officer Neff, who was called in from the Corona Police Department to assist with his K9 – the now-famous Duke – the suspect was given multiple opportunities to exit the vehicle, all of which he refused.
So they deployed Duke.
And “deploy” is the right word here, since it looks like the dog was fired straight out of a cannon!
The highly-trained and experienced Belgian Malinois basically flew into the driver’s side window, bounding through the broken glass to subdue the suspect.
No one at the scene could believe their eyes and the footage has now been viewed by millions for the simply unbelievable speed at which Duke apprehended the suspect.
“I was in shock. Thinking, ‘Wow! My dog is doing it and doing great,” said Officer Neff.
It was all in a day’s work for Duke – that’s precisely what he was taught to do. The dogs will bite and scratch if necessary, but they are not taught to maul a suspect or cause grievous injuries.
Details from CBS Los Angeles indicate that at this point Fontana officers were able to arrest Vasquez but still had to use a taser on him before getting him into the police vehicle.
From there, he was transported to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries. None of the officers, nor Duke, were injured during the dramatic confrontation.
Local news stations have reported that Vasquez will be charged with felony stalking and felony evading and more charges may be levied in the future. ABC7 suggested that he might also face charges for punching the K9, though throwing a punch would undoubtedly be a normal reaction to that sort of violent confrontation with an animal. (You can judge for yourself in the video below.)
Neff later said of Duke:
“He went to bed early this morning happy and woke up very happy. Not a scratch on him.”
Alas, the same could not be said of the suspect.
Be sure to scroll down below to see scenes from the end of the arrest as well as Duke’s brave, airborne maneuver.
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