On 1/6 a DE State Trooper was on a traffic stop with his Police K-9 in his vehicle. While he was attending to the driver pulled over, a drunk driver hit his vehicle at an excessive rate of speed, injuring his K-9 partner. This K-9 was hurt so badly he had to be rushed to the nearest emergency veterinarian to be stabilized, then flown to University of Penn hospital. K-9 Tomi will recover, however, DE State law does not currently allow for felony charges for those who injur a Police K-9 in a vehicular accident. This needs to change. If someone injures a K-9 in a vehicular accident while committing a crime, such as DUI (as in this case) or evading Police, they should be charged with injury or vehicular homicide of an Officer. 

These K-9’s selflessly assist and protect our Officers without hesitation, putting their own lives in danger in the process. They have the backs of our Officers, and we need to have their backs. They are K-9 Officers and should get the same protection as any Officer!