By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The K-9 partner of a Florida sheriff’s deputy did something horrifying — and potentially deadly — at a crime scene when it jumped without warning from a high-rise bridge over the Indian River.
It happened on the 528 Causeway in Brevard County, and dash camera video shows the deputy ended up in a tug of war as the dog dangled from its leash. Brevard County is east of Orlando, along Florida’s Atlantic Coast.
“K-9 Deputy Lauren Donaldson got the scare of her life when her partner, K-9 ‘Zeppelin,’ decided to leap over the bridge’s guard rail and off the bridge that is approximately 75 feet above the surface of the water,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a March 21 Facebook post.
“Thankfully, Lauren responded quickly to ‘Zeppelin’s’ actions by tightly holding on to his lead, immediately bracing her feet against the railing, and then somehow, reaching over the guard rail and pulling ‘Zeppelin’ back onto the bridge!”
It happened as the partners were walking away from a felony arrest, and it appears the dog realized its mistake at the last second. Close inspection of the video shows Zeppelin desperately tried grabbing the top of the concrete wall before vanishing.
Donaldson is heard saying only the word “No” as she holds the leash and pulls her partner from the abyss.
The entire episode lasts just six seconds and the two are seen acting as if nothing happened as they walk away.
“Lauren’s rescue of her beloved partner is even more amazing when you consider that ‘Zeppelin, a Belgian Malinois, weighs approximately 75 pounds and Lauren weighs 122 pounds when she is soaking wet and holding a bowling ball,” Brevard County Sheriff Sheriff Wayne Ivey said in the release.
“Somehow she managed to not panic and pull ‘Zeppelin’ back to safety!! Without Lauren’s fast action there is no question that ‘Zeppelin’ would have fallen … most likely to his death!”
Neither suffered injuries during the incident, officials said.
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