Newly obtained body-worn camera footage gives an inside look at lifesaving measures taken to keep a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office K-9 alive. The service dog was hit in a shootout between suspects and police.
K-9 Huk was shot on Zoo Parkway on the Northside in July after police pursued three suspects from a shooting incident. Two of the men died and a third is in custody.
Police used a pickup truck and JSO’s aviation unit helicopter to bring the dog to a veterinary clinic that could treat him.
“I need whatever to stop this bleeding!” yelled JSO Officer Cheth Plaugher minutes after his K-9 partner Huk was wounded on July 22.
The footage, which News4JAX obtained through a public records request, shows tense moments as officers rush to get K-9 Huk to safety.
“Get him out of here now!” an officer exclaims as police pull the dog away from the vehicle involved in the shootout.
Video shows responders carrying the 70-pound bleeding dog to a police truck and putting pressure on his wounds.
“That hole is real deep,” an officer told the others.
Then they discover more rounds in Huk’s leg and neck.
“It’s OK Huk. It’s OK buddy. Hang on,” an officer is heard comforting the distressed canine.
With lights and sirens, officers sit in the back of the truck with Huk as they drive him to a Northside veterinary clinic. After going inside and getting a stretcher and gauze, they decide to fly the service dog to an emergency vet in Jacksonville Beach. The JSO air unit lands behind a strip mall.
The helicopter takes off as Huk’s handler, Officer Plaugher, calms him down in the back seat alongside another officer.
Plaugher talks about what happened to his colleague.
“I don’t know dude, I went into like dad mode when I saw him,” he said.
Plaugher told the other officer he believed the dog was hit by a police rifle, not a suspect’s shot.
“I think it was police,” he recalled. “[The suspect] was reaching. They shot. I couldn’t tell what was going on. I heard him yelping, so I start pulling him to me when I pulled them to me the dude started reaching down again and that’s whenever I shot.”
MORE: Bodycam shows what led to JSO K-9 Huk, men being shot following pursuit & crash
To be clear, JSO hasn’t finished its investigation into what happened, and whose bullets hit the dog. The body camera video previously released by JSO shows the moment Huk was hit. The service dog yelps in pain as officers fire into the suspects’ vehicle, killing two of the three men inside.
“Let me see your hands!” one of the officers is heard saying shortly before the gunfire. “Shots fired. Watch the dog, watch the dog.”
The helicopter flight, with Huk and his handler in the back, takes a little more than 12 minutes.
The JSO chopper lands on 3rd Street (A1A) in front of First Coast Veterinary Specialists in Jacksonville Beach, where vet teams are waiting to rush Huk into their clinic.
“His back left hind leg is the worst, I think it’s got an artery bleed,” Plaugher said while helping push the dog onto a gurney. “It hit his front wrist. He’s also got a round in his neck and his chest.”
Huk would go through several surgeries and then rehabilitation. He eventually lost part of his front leg after vets determined they needed to amputate it. However, he did not lose his spirit. In recent months, News4JAX has spotted the trusty K-9 at several events around our area.
On Thursday, JSO confirmed Huk is now retired and will live the rest of his life at home with Officer Plaugher. Plaugher has been assigned a new K-9 partner.
JSO and the State Attorney’s Office continue to review the case and the officers’ actions. This is standard any time an officer is involved in a shooting.