Las Vegas officers honored for helping save K9 Enzo

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department honored two of its officers Wednesday for their heroic efforts in helping rush K9 Enzo to a nearby animal hospital after a man stabbed him.

The incident happened on March 29 when police responded to a call of a suicidal man. When officers arrived they found the man barricaded with a small fire in an apartment. SWAT, a K9 team and negotiators were called in to help assist.

Officers deployed Enzo to stop the man who had a knife and was threatening to attack police officers. Enzo raced toward the man, biting him on the left bicep and refusing to let go, despite being repeatedly stabbed.

Officers rushed Enzo to a nearby veterinary hospital where he was stabilized, but he was required to be transferred to another animal hospital for more care on the other side of town.

The only option was to transport Enzo by helicopter: In come, Officer Kenneth Sager and Officer Pilot Patrick Sherwood.

Sager said it took the teamwork of several agencies to help save Enzo’s life after he was stabbed several times by a man threatening officers. Sager was with Enzo and his partner Officer Remi Damole on that fateful day.

“It happened in Downtown Area Command, so you had all those officers originally being there and things like that and then from [the suspect] coming out to Enzo being stabbed and us trying to make our way to the hospital,” Sager explained. “You had area commands from Bolden, just all over the valley blocking areas off. Even Swat officers that hadn’t arrived yet, they started taking spots on the streets to make sure it was blocked off. “

Sherwood said he was the tactical flight officer on that day and knew it was a dire situation.

“We put Enzo in the back and I believe he was that critical, there was blood all over the place. The look on Remi’s face was very concerned. He looked scared and very worried about his partner,” Sherwood said.

Sherwood knew time was of the essence.

“It was 4 or 5 in the afternoon, rush hour traffic in Vegas and it was going from Decatur and Washington clear up on Durango in the southwest part of the valley so there’s no way an ambulance or police car or anything else was going to get that dog there faster than us and luckily we have the training to put our K9 partners in back and save a life. It was great,” added Sherwood.

Both officers said that Enzo is a hero too and being recognized by the department and the community makes the job worthwhile.

“Officer Remi, he’s received countless texts, I’ve received texts from just people in this community who are police force friendly, it’s awesome to know that we have the support from the community,” Sager added.

The man who stabbed Enzo — who was wanted for an out-of-state murder — will serve at least eight more years in prison, a judge ruled earlier this month.

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