A police service dog being driven to a theft-in-progress in Richmond, B.C. was killed early Tuesday morning in a civilian-involved car crash.
The collision occurred at around 1:30 a.m. on Westminster Highway as an RCMP K9 unit was responding to a call at the Britannia Shipyards in Steveston.
The police vehicle collided with a car before knocking down a hydro pole at the side of the road. Neither the police dog handler nor the civilian driver appear to have been seriously hurt, but a two-year-old police dog, Bo, died at the scene from injuries sustained in the crash.
"There are no words to describe how upsetting this is as we have lost a member of our police family," Cpl. Sherrdean Turley said in a statement.
"[Police dogs] are heroes in every sense of the word, from finding missing children to locating discarded weapons at crime scenes to facing dangers head on to save the lives of their handlers."
Bo had been a police dog for about eight months, following five months of training at the Police Dog Service Training Facility in Innisfail, Alta.
Westminster Highway from No. 6 Road to No. 7 Road remained closed at 10 a.m. Tuesday as an accident forensic team examined the scene.
Mounties have not determined which vehicle was at fault, but confirm that Mounties were not involved in a chase.
Turrley said the police vehicle's emergency equipment was activated at the time of the crash.
