Rogers County Sheriff’s office’s K9, Sandy, took a bite out of crime on Thursday, literally.
Her partner, Deputy and K9 handler, Nate Cooper attempted to pull over Jamie Hinkle for a traffic violation. Deputies say Hinkle swerved over the yellow line and almost hit the curb along Highway 66 and Will Rogers Blvd. Hinkle sped away and Cooper and Sandy followed.
After a couple minutes Hinkle hopped out of his moving vehicle around 6th Street and Owalla Ave. He started to run; that’s when Cooper commanded Sandy to attack him.
“He actually turns around and looks at me then keeps running,” said Deputy Cooper. “He keeps looking back at me digging in his pockets. I felt like he had a weapon and he was going to use it. I saw his hands go up and he squared off.”
But he never pulled out a weapon, although later police found a nine-inch knife with spikes on it in his vehicle.
“She then comes around tries to get an ankle bite on him,” explains Cooper. “She gets a bite, he kicks her in the head, and then she goes into survival mode. She feels that I am in a threat. She is going to protect me and then she gets a good side bite on him.”
It was a brawl between the three of them. Cooper relied on Sandy for protection.
“She probably saved my life,” said Cooper. “It was a big fight, he was fighting hard. He thrashed around on the ground, fighting kicking. “
Cooper trains Sandy 32 hours a month to do exactly what she did to Hinkle. She is not trained to kill, only trained to protect her partner.
Sandy is a Belgian Malinois and responded to commands, in Dutch, German, and when she is naughty, English (which is not very often, according to Cooper.) She only responded to his voice.
“I have all the faith in the world with her; there is no losing with her.”
After the fight, Cooper needed to be transported to the hospital for heat exhaustion and dehydration. He was back to work the next day.
Hinkle is facing several charges including, mistreating a police dog, obstructing an officer, and eluding an officer.
