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Officer Jarred Koopman is pictured here with 5-year-old Belgian Malinois, Harlej.
Courtesy Fishers Police Department/FacebookFISHERS, Ind. (AP) — Suburban Indianapolis police say a police dog was killed while tracking a suspected drunken driver in a wooded area.
Fishers police Sgt. Tom Weger tells The Indianapolis Star that officers were pursuing the motorist early Wednesday when the man stopped his vehicle and ran into a neighborhood just north of Indianapolis.
Officer Jarred Koopman and the 5-year-old Belgian Malinois, named Harlej, pursued the driver on foot. Koopman let the dog run ahead when the suspect disappeared into the woods.
Weger says Koopman heard what he believed was a gunshot moments later.
Officers arrested the man, who had a leg injury believed inflicted by the dog. Harlej was found dead nearby. Weger says Harlej likely died of a gunshot wound.
Police arrested a woman who was also in the vehicle.
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