K9 Cara

Cara

K9 Cara died after falling from a bridge while assisting the Skyline Drug Task Force by conducting an article search along Old White Bridge Road in Augusta County.

Members of the Staunton Police Department and Augusta County Sheriff's Office were conducting an investigation at the Walmart. They observed a wanted subject unrelated to the investigation sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle in the parking lot. As officers contacted the occupants of the vehicle, the woman driving it accelerated, striking two officers and leading deputies and Virginia State Police troopers on a 17-mile pursuit. The driver of the vehicle and the wanted subject were both taken into custody.

K9 Cara was requested to search for a gun that officers believed had been thrown from the vehicle. As K9 Cara searched for the gun she fell from a bridge to the ground approximately 50 feet below. She suffered a broken back because of the fall. It was determined the best course of action was to euthanize her humanely.

A handgun and narcotics were later recovered.

K9 Cara had served with the Staunton City Sheriff's Office for two years and was a certified explosives-detection dog.