K9 EDDIE ENDS HIS FINAL SHIFT WITH ONE LAST SUSPECT TAKEDOWN

One More Call Before Retirement

For years, K-9 Eddie had done the same thing whenever his handler needed him.

Track.

Search.

Run.

Find.

But on August 15, 2024, nobody involved in an armed-robbery response in Pierce County, Washington, could have known that they were watching the final call of Eddie's law-enforcement career.

It began at 12:09 p.m.

Pierce County Sheriff's Department deputies were dispatched to an armed robbery at Saars Market near 133rd Street and Pacific Avenue South.

According to the Sheriff's Department, two men had allegedly stolen alcohol from the store. When people confronted them, the situation escalated into a physical confrontation.

Authorities said the suspects then bear-sprayed employees and bystanders before escaping in a maroon Honda sedan.

What followed was no longer a simple shoplifting call.

Deputies had two fleeing robbery suspects, a vehicle description and victims left behind at the store.

And one of the deputies responding had a partner exceptionally well suited to what was about to happen.

His name was Eddie.

THIS WOULD BECOME THE LAST SUSPECT K-9 EDDIE WOULD EVER CHASE AS AN ACTIVE PIERCE COUNTY SHERIFF'S K-9.

The Call Begins at Saars Market

The bodycam footage opens on a scene that gives little indication of how quickly events are about to escalate.

Deputies arrive at the store.

Yellow tape is visible near the entrance.

Employees and witnesses remain around the business as deputies begin piecing together what happened.

The information investigators received gave them something extremely valuable: a description of the getaway vehicle.

The two men had reportedly left in a maroon Honda sedan.

While other deputies responded to the robbery scene, a K-9 deputy heard the broadcast and began looking for that vehicle.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, the deputy was checking Steele Street near State Route 512 when he spotted a vehicle matching the description.

He checked the license plate.

It matched.

The search had just become a pursuit.

THE SUSPECTS SEE THE DEPUTY

The K-9 deputy turned around.

That apparently told the people in the Honda everything they needed to know.

Instead of stopping, authorities say the vehicle fled.

For deputies, the situation had now developed through several stages in only minutes.

First came the reported theft.

Then the confrontation.

Then the alleged use of bear spray.

Then the getaway.

Now came an attempt to evade law enforcement.

But the suspects had another problem.

EDDIE WAS IN THE PATROL VEHICLE.

The German shepherd wasn't merely along for the ride.

A police dog becomes particularly valuable when a vehicle pursuit turns into a foot pursuit, especially when officers lose visual contact with someone running through residential properties.

And that was precisely where this case was headed.

THE GETAWAY CAR CRASHES

The Honda did not continue indefinitely.

According to PCSD, the fleeing vehicle eventually crashed at an apartment complex.

At that point, both suspects abandoned the car and ran.

That decision completely changed the nature of the pursuit.

A vehicle can be followed by another vehicle.

A person running between buildings, yards, fences and apartments presents a different challenge.

Visibility disappears.

Distances shrink.

Corners create hiding places.

Officers have to decide whether someone has entered a building, crossed a fence or doubled back.

This is exactly the environment where a trained K-9 can alter the outcome.

Eddie was released to work.

The suspect was given a warning.

He continued running.

And Eddie went after him.

EDDIE TAKES THE LEAD

Police K-9 footage looks very different from a normal foot pursuit.

The handler is not simply chasing the suspect.

He is also managing the dog.

Commands need to be clear.

The leash has to be controlled.

Other officers must know where the K-9 is moving.

The dog's speed can also immediately change the balance of the pursuit.

A fleeing suspect may have enough distance to temporarily outrun an officer.

Outrunning a trained police dog is another matter.

PCSD says Eddie sprinted after the first suspect and caught him.

The handler then gained control of Eddie and kept the suspect on the ground until other deputies could arrive and place him in handcuffs.

The Sheriff's Department jokingly described the suspect as being held at "dog point."

But operationally, something important had happened.

One fleeing robbery suspect had been stopped.

Now deputies needed to find the second.

ONE SUSPECT DOWN, ONE STILL MISSING

The arrest did not immediately solve the entire problem.

The second man had disappeared.

Normally, this might seem like another perfect assignment for Eddie.

Give the dog a starting location.

Establish a scent.

Begin tracking.

But real K-9 searches are not always that simple.

According to the Sheriff's Department, deputies didn't have a sufficiently reliable starting point for Eddie to track the second suspect. There were also numerous people in the surrounding area, complicating the situation.

So deputies began searching.

The second suspect had apparently found what he believed was a workable hiding spot.

He was underneath a staircase.

Then a member of the public saw him.

A citizen pointed deputies toward the location.

Suddenly, the second man's hiding place wasn't hidden anymore.

THE SECOND ARREST

Deputies moved toward the residence.

Bodycam footage shows officers working around the property while attempting to control the scene.

This stage is especially tense because officers do not necessarily know what waits around a corner.

They are responding to suspects accused of robbery and using bear spray during their escape.

One person has already run.

The other is hiding.

Every blind corner becomes significant.

Every backyard becomes another possible escape route.

But the second suspect was ultimately located and taken into custody.

BOTH MEN WERE NOW UNDER ARREST.

And then investigators learned another unusual detail.

The two suspects weren't simply accomplices.

They were father and son.

A FATHER AND SON END UP IN JAIL

According to the Sheriff's Department, both men were booked into the Pierce County Jail on robbery allegations.

The son also faced an additional eluding charge.

That distinction is important.

The bodycam footage shows arrests, but criminal charges are allegations until resolved through the court process.

Still, from an operational perspective, the immediate objective had been achieved.

The reported robbery had occurred shortly after noon.

The suspects fled.

Deputies found their vehicle.

The vehicle fled.

It crashed.

Both occupants ran.

Eddie caught one.

A citizen helped officers locate the other.

Both were eventually taken into custody.

That alone would have made the incident another memorable K-9 deployment.

But there was something the footage itself could not fully explain.

This call was different.

EDDIE HAD DONE THIS BEFORE

K-9 Eddie was not new to tracking people who attempted to disappear after running from Pierce County deputies.

Only weeks earlier, he had been involved in another pursuit after an orange Chevrolet Avalanche was reported stolen.

On July 16, 2024, a deputy spotted the distinctive truck and attempted a traffic stop.

The driver fled.

The pursuit moved onto State Route 512, changed directions and eventually returned toward Pacific Avenue.

The driver then abandoned the vehicle and tried to escape on foot.

He ran directly into deputies and Eddie.

The 48-year-old suspect was eventually booked on allegations including motor-vehicle theft and felony eluding.

That wasn't Eddie's only recent capture.

In June, deputies had used him after a dirt-bike rider fled from a traffic stop in Spanaway.

The rider abandoned his motorcycle and hid.

Eddie tracked him to a shed or porch area, where deputies took him into custody.

Earlier that year, Eddie had tracked a wanted man through a wooded greenbelt near Graham after the suspect climbed fences attempting to escape deputies. Eddie located him hiding in the woods.

Finding people who believed they had successfully disappeared was essentially Eddie's specialty.

THIS TIME THE CHASE ENDS BESIDE A HOUSE

The bodycam image from the arrest captures something that a written police report cannot.

A man is down beside a residential building.

The pursuit is over.

Seconds earlier, officers had been moving.

Eddie had been tracking.

The suspect had been trying to create distance.

Now everything has stopped.

The suspect is controlled while deputies converge on the location.

This is the moment where pursuit becomes arrest.

And for Eddie, it was the final time that transition would happen during his active career.

WHY POLICE K-9s CHANGE A FOOT PURSUIT

K-9 units serve a function that goes beyond simply running faster than a person.

A trained police dog can help officers search spaces where visual contact has been lost.

That distinction matters.

Imagine an officer watching someone run behind a house.

When the officer reaches that house, several possibilities immediately exist.

Did the person continue straight?

Turn into another yard?

Jump a fence?

Enter a shed?

Hide beneath a deck?

Double back?

A human officer must evaluate those possibilities visually.

A tracking dog adds another source of information.

That does not make K-9 deployment automatic or infallible. Departments have policies governing when dogs can be used, warnings, handler control and the level of force appropriate to a situation.

But this Pierce County case shows why K-9 teams remain particularly relevant when a vehicle pursuit becomes a foot chase.

The suspects' crashed Honda could no longer carry them away.

Their only remaining advantage was the surrounding environment.

Eddie helped remove that advantage.

THE MOST IMPORTANT DETAIL COMES AFTER THE ARREST

At first, this appears to be a straightforward K-9 capture video.

Robbery.

Vehicle pursuit.

Crash.

Foot chase.

K-9 deployment.

Arrest.

But the final piece completely changes the emotional meaning of the footage.

K-9 Eddie's handler had been promoted to sergeant.

That meant Eddie's active career was coming to an end.

The August 15 robbery response became his final call.

There would be no next pursuit.

No next track.

No next suspect hiding behind a shed.

No next dispatch sending Eddie and his handler across Pierce County.

After years of working beside deputies, Eddie was retiring.

And somehow, his final call gave him one more fleeing suspect to catch.

A FINAL CAPTURE BEFORE RETIREMENT

There is something unusually fitting about how Eddie's career ended.

He did not retire after a ceremonial demonstration.

He did not finish his career sitting inside a patrol vehicle.

His last assignment required exactly the abilities that had defined his service.

A serious call came over the radio.

His handler located the suspects.

They fled.

They crashed.

They ran.

Eddie went to work.

AND ON HIS FINAL CALL, HE CAUGHT ONE MORE SUSPECT.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department summed up the moment by thanking Eddie for his service and wishing him a happy retirement.

For viewers who encounter only the bodycam footage, that context is easy to miss.

The dog running toward the suspect isn't simply another police K-9.

You're watching the final minutes of a working career.

THE CITIZEN WHO HELPED FINISH THE SEARCH

Another part of the incident deserves attention.

Eddie caught the first fleeing suspect.

But the second arrest involved someone who wasn't wearing a badge.

A citizen spotted the second suspect attempting to hide beneath stairs and alerted deputies.

That information solved a practical problem.

Eddie did not have a clean starting point for another track.

The area contained many people.

Instead of turning into an extended search, the incident moved quickly toward resolution because somebody nearby saw something and told deputies.

It is a small detail compared with the dramatic K-9 chase.

Operationally, however, it was extremely important.

The case ended through a combination of police work, K-9 deployment and information from the community.

FROM A STORE AISLE TO A FOOT CHASE

Consider how rapidly the incident evolved.

Two men allegedly steal alcohol.

Employees confront them.

A physical altercation follows.

Authorities say bear spray is used against employees and bystanders.

The men leave in a Honda.

A K-9 deputy spots the vehicle.

The vehicle flees.

It crashes.

Both occupants run.

Eddie catches one.

A citizen identifies the hiding place of the other.

Deputies arrest both men.

And only after all of that comes the detail that transforms the entire episode:

IT WAS EDDIE'S LAST DAY ON THE JOB.

The official Pierce County account and KIRO 7's reporting independently describe that same sequence and identify the arrested pair as father and son.

MORE THAN JUST THE DRAMATIC MOMENT

Police bodycam videos naturally concentrate attention on the most intense few seconds.

The sprint.

The dog.

The arrest.

But understanding the entire incident requires looking at everything around those moments.

The chase exists because employees reported a robbery.

The K-9 deployment exists because the suspects allegedly fled after the vehicle crashed.

The second arrest happens because a citizen spots someone hiding.

And Eddie's role carries additional significance because his career was ending.

Remove that context and this becomes just another short clip of a police dog catching someone.

Add the context back, and it becomes the closing chapter of a K-9's working life.

GOOD BOY, EDDIE

Police dogs don't understand retirement ceremonies, promotions or career statistics the way people do.

For Eddie, August 15 probably began like another workday.

He rode with his handler.

A call came in.

There was a vehicle to find.

Then someone ran.

That was enough.

The instincts and training built over years took over.

Eddie chased.

Eddie caught.

His handler controlled the arrest.

Backup arrived.

The job was finished.

Only humans knew it was the last time.

The Sheriff's Department later announced Eddie's retirement while highlighting this arrest as his final call.

His handler's promotion meant the partnership was entering a new phase.

Eddie could finally step away from patrol work.

But before that happened, he had one final job to complete.

And he completed it.

ONE LAST RUN

The strongest ending to Eddie's story isn't complicated.

On August 15, deputies were called to a reported armed robbery at Saars Market.

Two suspects fled.

A K-9 deputy located their vehicle.

They tried to get away.

Their car crashed.

They ran.

Eddie chased one of them down.

Deputies found the second nearby.

Both were arrested.

Father and son.

And then Eddie went home from his final call.

There are more dramatic K-9 pursuits.

There are longer searches.

There are incidents involving greater distances and more complicated terrain.

But very few come with an ending this appropriate.

AFTER A CAREER SPENT HELPING PIERCE COUNTY DEPUTIES FIND PEOPLE WHO RAN, K-9 EDDIE FINISHED HIS LAST SHIFT DOING EXACTLY THAT.

The suspect stopped running.

The handcuffs went on.

And Eddie's working career was complete.

Watch Eddie's Final Capture

The bodycam footage reveals the part that a police report cannot fully recreate: the sudden switch from investigation to pursuit, the search through residential property, the moment Eddie closes the distance and the coordinated arrest that follows.

Knowing it was his final call makes every second of that pursuit different.

It isn't merely footage of a police dog at work.

It's the final chapter of K-9 Eddie's career.

Follow the link to watch Eddie's last pursuit unfold and see how one final call brought his years of service to a fitting close: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw0uY7RrP7E