July 2019 Catch

DEPUTY GRIFFIN BUSH

K-9 ARCHIE

VANDERBURGH COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE (INDIANA)

On July 13th, 2019 at approximately 1714, dispatch received a call stating a man arrived at a residence and broke out a window with a bat. The victim opened the door to confront the offender and the suspect drew a handgun from his waist while firing a shot into the residence at the victim. A short time later, a white male fled from the residence running east while holding a handgun.

The Evansville Police Department set up a perimeter and a K9 was instructed to track for the wanted male. The weather outside was approaching 95 degrees and after a search, the K9 was placed back in an EPD cruiser to cool off. I made contact with the K9 Officer on scene and called en route to search the area with my certified K9 partner Archie. Once I arrived on scene, I placed Archie on a 15 foot tracking lead around the area the offender was last seen. Prior to instructing Archie to search, I gave two loud verbal announcements stating "Sheriff’s Office K9, come out now or you will get bit." After not receiving any compliance, I instructed Archie to search the area for the offender. Archie pulled me hard to the south into a densely vegetated area in between buildings. We then tracked east in between buildings where the area was so thick I could not see my partner. Archie made his way into a field through a broken fence, but did not show any indicators except on the north side of the lot that shared a six foot barb wired fence with a very large scrap yard.

I was able to enter the scrap yard after checking other areas where the EPD drone had thermal images. Once we entered the yard, I gave two more loud verbal announcements and did not receive any compliance. Due to not knowing if any workers were in the large area filled with vehicles, multiple storage buildings and scrap, I had to slowly search with Archie on a 15 foot lead. Archie searched the yard and was succumbing to the heat when I started to walk him out of the yard. While walking Archie out, he had a sudden change of behavior. Archie had a big head snap to the right and threw his nose up in the air while closing his mouth. I could tell Archie was winding something and he extended to the end of his lead towards an area behind large barrels. When we moved around the debris, I could see a white male matching the description of the offender sitting upward with one hand in the air. I told the offender to show me his hands and due to his exhaustion he was slow to comply. The offender was eventually taken into custody without incident. At no time was any force used by myself or my partner. The offenders’ whereabouts were unknown for 1 hour and 38 minutes until he was taken into custody at 1852. The weapon was later located by EPD in a field nearby.

Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office

Deputy Griffin Bush

K9-Archie