HONORING:

K9 Benzi
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Columbus Division of Police, Ohio

End of Watch: Saturday, September 1, 2018

Age: 3

Tour: 2

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DETAILS:

K9 Benzi was shot after attacking his handler at the agency's canine facility at 2609 McKinley Avenue.

Benzi's handler was correcting his behavior with verbal commands when the dog attacked him, causing serious wounds to his handler's arm. Benzi continued to disobey his handler's command to release, giving his handler no other option except to shoot him. A tourniquet was applied to the handler's arm and he was transported to a local hospital.

Benzi was taken to a local veterinary hospital where he was humanely euthanized due to the wound.

K9 Benzi had served with the Columbus Division of Police for two years.

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HONORING:

K9 Nell
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Refugio County Sheriff's Office, Texas

End of Watch: Saturday, September 1, 2018

Age: 3

Tour: Not Available

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DETAILS:

K9 Nell and K9 Grunt were strangled to death by a suspect they were tracking while assisting the Aransas County Sheriff's Office and other state and federal agencies.

Officers in Aransas County had been involved in a pursuit in which 16 illegal aliens bailed out of a vehicle and fled into the brush along Route 35 north of Holiday Beach, Texas. Members of the Aransas County Sheriff's Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and United States Border Patrol were searching for the suspects and requested assistance from Refugio County's tracking team.

Nell and Grunt, who were trained to track critically missing persons with dementia, were let off leash as deputies followed them on horseback. The non-aggressive dogs tracked one subject into some brush but did not come out. As deputies called for the man to surrender he taunted them in Spanish. Deputies entered the brush and took him into custody. The bodies of Nell and Grunt were found with their tracking collars twisted tightly around their necks.

Both dogs were a mix of black and tan coonhound, bluetick coonhound, and redtick coonhound.

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HONORING:

K9 Rocky
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Riverhead Police Department, New York

End of Watch: Sunday, September 2, 2018

Age: Not Available

Tour: 7 years

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DETAILS:

K9 Rocky was killed in a vehicle crash near the intersection of West Main Street and Raynor Avenue as his handler responded to a vehicle pursuit at approximately 2:30 am.

An officer working a DWI checkpoint was struck by a vehicle whose driver refused commands to stop and fled. Rocky's handler was responding to the resulting vehicle pursuit when his patrol car left the roadway and struck a utility pole. Rocky sustained fatal injuries when he was ejected from the patrol car.

The pursuit was terminated due to the suspect's dangerous driving behavior. The driver remains at large.

K9 Rocky had served with the Riverhead Police Department for seven years.

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HONORING:

K9 Grunt
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Refugio County Sheriff's Office, Texas

End of Watch: Saturday, September 1, 2018

Age: 8

Tour: Not Available

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DETAILS:

K9 Grunt and K9 Nell were strangled to death by a suspect they were tracking while assisting the Aransas County Sheriff's Office and other state and federal agencies.

Officers in Aransas County had been involved in a pursuit in which 16 illegal aliens bailed out of a vehicle and fled into the brush along Route 35 north of Holiday Beach, Texas. Members of the Aransas County Sheriff's Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and United States Border Patrol were searching for the suspects and requested assistance from Refugio County's tracking team.

Nell and Grunt, who were trained to track critically missing persons with dementia, were let off leash as deputies followed them on horseback. The non-aggressive dogs tracked one subject into some brush but did not come out. As deputies called for the man to surrender he taunted them in Spanish. Deputies entered the brush and took him into custody. The bodies of Nell and Grunt were found with their tracking collars twisted tightly around their necks.

Both dogs were a mix of black and tan coonhound, bluetick coonhound, and redtick coonhound.

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HONORING:

K9 Smokey
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Nowata Police Department, Oklahoma

End of Watch: Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Age: 3

Tour: 1 year

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DETAILS:

K9 Smokey was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer after an intoxicated woman let him out of his handler's patrol car on U.S. 169, just north of the Nowata Municipal Airport service road.

Smokey's handler encountered an intoxicated woman walking in the roadway. The woman approached his patrol car as he stopped to talk to her and opened the back door, allowing Smokey to jump out onto the roadway. Smokey was struck by the oncoming truck as his handler called him to return to the vehicle.

The woman was arrested and charged in connection with the incident.

K9 Smokey had served with the Nowata Police Department for one year.

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HONORING:

Fire Chief Michael Reese
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Willow Street Fire Company, Pennsylvania

End of Watch: Thursday, August 23, 2018

Age: 53

Tour: Not Available

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DETAILS:

Fire Chief Michael Reese responded to a vehicle accident during the early morning hours on 08/23/18. Several hours later that day, Reese suddenly passed away at his home. The nature and cause of fatal injury are still to be reported.

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HONORING:

Assistant Fire Chief Daniel “Danny” Lister
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Queen Anne-Hillsboro Volunteer Fire Company, Maryland

End of Watch: Saturday, September 1, 2018

Age: 34

Tour: Not Available

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DETAILS:

Assistant Fire Chief Daniel "Danny" Lister was operating at the scene of a motor vehicle accident with multiple medical patients on Maryland Route 404 at Old Queen Anne Road and suffered a medical emergency. Resuscitation efforts on scene were unsuccessful and Lister passed away at the University of Maryland Shore Regional Health at Easton.

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HONORING:

Firefighter II Eric Christopher Aarseth
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Miller Timber Services, Oregon

End of Watch: Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Age: 20

Tour: Not Available

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DETAILS:

Firefighter II Eric Aarseth worked the Horns Mountain Fire in Washington on August 27 and was released at 6:00 p.m. On August 28, Aarseth was found unresponsive at his home in Oregon. Reports indicate that Aarseth developed pneumonia which became septic. Aarseth was treated at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield, Oregon, but was taken off life support on September 3 after suffering irreversible damage to his organs. Aarseth passed away early the following morning on September 4.

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May you be at rest.

This information is supplied by the Officer Down Memorial Page (www.odmp.org) and the U.S. Fire Administration (www.apps.usfa.fema.gov).