September 05, 2015
City of Reading Police Department /Facebook
Cody, a K-9 dog with the Reading Police, was injured responding to an unsecured building Friday night.
A police K-9, conducting a building search in Reading, fell about 20 feet Friday night and was seriously injured with suspected internal bleeding.
The condition of Cody has improved and is now stable, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
The three-year-old Belgian Malinois dog was flown by medevac helicopter to the Univerity of Pennsylvania's veterinary hospital, the first such flight and transport ever done, according to the spokeswoman.
The injured K-9, which began service July 7, 2014, was transported on the ground with a police van equipped with special stretchers.
The Reading Eagle newspaper reports the animal was searching a middle school at the time of the accident.
Reading police had responded to Southwest Middle School at about 8:15 p.m. for a report that the school was unsecure.
Officers found a side door unlocked. They searched the school to make sure intruders were not inside. The K-9 unit was called to assist in the search.
The dog fell about 15 to 20 feet, police told the Eagle, while on an elevated catwalk.
No one was found inside the building.
The K9 was taken to a veterinary center in the nearby suburb of Shillington and became lethargic, showing signs of internal bleeding.
The dog's handler and a K9 supervisor were taken with the dog to Penn Vet, according to Reading police.
Police are not releasing the handler's name. But the handler was identified in a Reading television news account as Officer John Hutchinson when the dog hit the streets a year ago.
The Belgian dog and a German Shepherd K-9 were bought for the department via a grant of $17,500 dollars, according to WFMZ-TV.
Cody is at Ryan Hospital at Penn Vet, which is open 24 hours a day, staffed by emergency medicine clinicians and emergency/critical care specialists. It is considered the top trauma center in the country.
The air transport arrangement for Cody was worked out several years ago, through the cooperation of Penn Vet, the university's public safety office and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, according to Ashley Berke of Penn Vet.
The agreement called for the use of Penn Star Helicopters for the transport of injured working dogs, and then a transfer to Ryan, a Level 1 trauma center for animals.
No one was found inside the building.
The Reading police department plans to post additional updates on it's Facebook page.
