KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A police dog lost his life in the line of duty, leaving his partner to grieve.
“About a week ago, we were called out to do a field search for a felony suspect that ran off from a car stop into the woods out in Belton,” Officer Jason Brungardt said.
His K-9 partner Brunie raced into the woods and chased the suspect out. After more searching, police found their suspect and arrested him.
“Brunie played a major role in assisting in this matter,” Brungardt said.
Brungardt and Brunie had been partners since March 2012. But after Brunie came out of the woods that day, he started showing signs that something was very wrong.
“Started to become very lethargic and was vomiting, and I took him to the vet and he was dehydrated, and he wasn’t drinking, wasn’t eating anymore,” Brungardt said.
Brunie ate something poisonous and kept getting worse. He was put down Sunday afternoon.
“It was pretty upsetting,” Brungardt said. “The bond that we have with our partner is 10 times stronger and 10 times more powerful than I would say a human partner.”
KCPD has 12 dogs in the K-9 unit.
“All of our dogs are tools and we use them for lots of things, article searches, finding people, Brunie’s specialty was explosives,” Brungardt said. “They’re the guys that we send into battle for us and they stay in the fight until the very end.”
Brungardt says he will always remember him.
“It will be hard, but at the same time, got to stay in the fight, got to go on, Brunie had a job to do and he did it well, ultimately he paid the sacrifice, but in the end, I have a job to do also,” says Brungardt.
Brungardt says Brunie will be replaced, but no dog can truly replace his partner in fighting crime.
Brunie was Brungardt’s first K-9 partner. He cost $12,000. On a brighter note, the pair won Patrol Case of the Year from the National Police K-9 association for an apprehension back in August of 2013.
