K-9 Rescued From Car Crash Released From Animal Hospital
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – Nearly a week after being a passenger in a police cruiser that was hit head-on, Plantation Police K-9 dog Rudi was released from the hospital.
Plantation Police K-9 Officer Curtis Hampton was hit head-on by an SUV last week. The SUV jumped the median and then hit Hampton's cruiser. Officer Hampton's car was then hit by another car from behind.
Rescue workers had to use the jaws of life to rescue Rudi, a 12-year-old Belgian malinois, from the wreckage.
His recovery has been nothing short of remarkable.
"At first it seemed slow with the internal injuries and trauma from the crash," said K-9 Officer Aaron Vandenhouten. "As soon as his internal bleeding stabilized he started recovering quickly. He started eating a couple of days ago; so he's made a huge recovery in the last few days.
Officer Hampton remains in the hospital recovering from surgery, but Plantation Police said he's improving every day.
Rudi will now head to another Vandenhouten's house until he can be reunited with Officer Hampton.
"He's an older dog and was getting ready to retire," Vandenhouten said. "He's pulled through so he will have a nice retirement.!"
There are no immediate plans to bring Rudi to visit Hampton in the hospital.
Plantation Police said the driver of the SUV that hit Hampton will be cited for the accident.
