A Mississippi deputy is alive today because of his K-9 partner, Lucas, a Belgian Malinois.
Deputy Todd Frazier was driving on a deserted road one night when he came across a parked car near a rest stop in Pearlington, Mississippi. Thinking the lone individual needed help, Frazier stopped and offered his assistance.
With the man’s car in park and his lights turned off, Frazier was cautious. But the nightmare was about to begin.
As Frazier was near the car, he heard some rustling in the woods. As Frazier began stepping away from the car, two men darted out of the woods.
“The deputy tripped and fell to the ground as he was backing away from the vehicle,” said Glenn Grannan, Chief Investigator for Hancock County Sheriff’s Office. “That’s when all three male subjects, including the driver, ambushed him, cut him on the forehead with a sharp object and dragged him into the woods.”
“They told him they were going to slit his throat, and they were dragging him toward the woods,” Chief Deputy Don Bass added. The investigators believe the attacker’s intentions were to kill him and dump his body.
As the attackers began dragging him towards the woods, Frazier was able to get one hand free to activate a button that opens the door to the patrol car to release his K-9.
When Lucas was free, he bolted towards the three men — injuring at least one and sending all three fleeing for their lives.
“We don’t know how many he got; we just know he had blood all over him,” Sheriff Ricky Adam said.
The K-9 release mechanism is a recent install for the county’s two out of the four K-9 units. Bass said that Frazier’s encounter was a “very near miss.”
Canine Lucas did suffer some injuries. He tore a ligament in one of his legs, some teeth were broken, and he had road rash to his body. Thankfully, Lucas will have a full recovery and is expected to be fine. For more information, check out the video below.
“It hits us hard, it brings you to your knees,” Bass said. “We’re not a large agency, and all these guys have families. The main thing for anybody is to go home safe. We want you to go home at night. But it could happen to any one of them. The threat is here and the possibility is real.”
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