A Michigan police department released the body cam footage that captured the moment a police dog spotted a three-year-old who had wandered away from his home, and the moment the officer realizes the toddler was saved will warm your heart.
Authorities in Geneva Township got a call in the early evening of March 4th saying that the boy had gone missing, according to South Haven Area Emergency Services. So they sent a canine unit that included Deputy Eric Calhoun and his dog, Kuno, to the scene.
Shortly after arriving, Kuno and Officer Calhoun found a tiny footprint near the home that set them on the path to a body of water less than a mile away. Thankfully the lead came at just the right time. The duo found the toddler when he was only 50 yards away from the water.
The Heroic Police Dog Ensured the Family of the Missing Toddler Had a “Happy Ending”
At the same time, another unit was flying drones overhead, and they located the boy right around the time the dog did. But having an officer there at that moment may have stopped the toddler from falling into the water.
The body cam footage shows Officer Calhoun, the police dog, and a third officer rushing to the water’s edge, and when they see the missing toddler, you can hear Officer Calhoun shout, “Hey buddy!”
The terrified little boy cries and asks for his mom as someone picks him up and Officer Calhoun assures him that everything is okay.
“If we weren’t to locate that kid when we did, you’re talking three, four or five minutes, that kid might have wandered in one of those ponds, we’d have a different outcome,” Van Buren County Sheriff Daniel Abbott said.
The “happy ending” wasn’t the first for the police dog, either. Among his many heroic moments, he’s saved five total missing children since he began his career in 2017. Sheriff Abbot said Officer Calhoun is working to make his four-legged partner “the number one dog in the state of Michigan, if not the nation.”
“This is a deputy on his days off, sets up trainings with other agencies so he can stay on point with this dog,” he noted.
You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.
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