June 2017 Catch

DEPUTY BUSH

K-9 ARCHIE

VANDERBURGH COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

Deputies with the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office went to 1018 Oakley Street to serve a felony Petition to Revoke Probation warrant on Everett Serrett Jr. Due to Serrett`s extensive narcotics history, deputies were unaware of Serrett`s current state. After making contact with the home owner, she claimed Everett was not inside so I moved to the front of the residence with my K9 partner, Archie.

I opened the front door to the residence and gave a loud verbal command stating "Sheriff’s Office K9, anybody inside come out now or you will get bit." After waiting approximately 10 seconds and not getting a response, I once again made the same announcement into the residence. I waited another 10 seconds and deployed my K9 partner inside to locate Serrett. Archie checked a front room on the main floor, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, before trying to get into a door in the kitchen. I opened the door and Archie ran down a flight of stairs into an unfinished concrete basement. Deputy Bishop, Deputy Toopes, Deputy Ray and Deputy Baehl all followed into the basement as Archie searched the area.

Archie searched the room and started standing on his back legs near a large hole in the basement wall to the north that had an old wooden door in front of it. Archie jumped up several times causing the door to bang against the concrete before finally jumping over it into a dirt crawl space. Archie searched the area for several seconds before I heard a male scream. Due to the hole being approximately 4 feet off the ground, partially behind a washing machine and the door blocking it, I was unable to safely enter after my dog. I was able to look over the door into the extremely dark dirt crawl space and saw my dog had apprehended Serrett on his left shoulder. Serrett was deep into the space that had approximately 3 feet of space between the dirt floor and the ceiling of the residence. Due to the area not being lit and not being able to see Serrett`s hands, I could not safely enter the area in case he had weapons in the close quarters. I instructed my partner and Serrett to move back toward me out of the area. Once Serrett complied and started toward me, he was removed from the area and my dog released his hold.