Lake County Sheriff's K9 Dax receives acupuncture after being injured
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) -- The well-known Lake County, Illinois Sheriff's K9 Dax was receiving acupuncture Friday to help reduce swelling in his neck and spine following an injury this week.
Dax has tracked hundreds of missing people and wanted suspects. But late Monday night, he was hurt when a suspect ran from a stolen car that had crashed near the Wisconsin state line.
Just before midnight Monday night, there were tense moments in total darkness. The suspect was hiding in the woods after a police pursuit.
"If the dog finds you, he will bite you," police told the suspect.
"This is a very violent crime that was in progress," Lake County Deputy Sheriff Christopher Covelli said earlier this week. "You have an individual that is in a stolen vehicle, an individual that rammed a police car, and an individual that fled on foot."
CBS 2 has shown how Dax and his handler, John Forlenza, have worked together on hundreds of cases in the past, including a robbery in which a suspect punched Dax. But this latest injury put that professional partnership in jeopardy.
"My philosophy with Dax is we always work as a team," said Forlenza when CBS 2 spoke to him last year. "I do not have him track 30 feet away from me. We are side by side. I'm there to protect him, just like he's there to protect me."
After the swelling goes down, Dax will undergo further testing such as an MRI and a CT scan.
Police said the suspect in the case in which Dax was injured, a 16-year-old from Zion, has charges pending against him in Wisconsin and Illinois.