Brave Escambia County K-9 hailed hero, receives Smiles Behind the Shield award

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. ( WKRG ) — Body camera footage shows the moments three homicide suspects jumped out of a wrecked car on the Highway 90 bridge at Scenic Highway after killing an elderly woman in a drive-by shooting and leading Escambia County sheriff’s deputies on a chase in June.

Taking charge of capturing the suspects was a K-9 named Streeter.

“K-9 Streeter during the course of his duties followed one of the suspects onto the bridge and refusing to give up, followed that suspect even when he jumped off of a bridge,” Escambia County Sheriff, Chip Simmons, said. “Without hesitation, Streeter did his job.”

He not only received a Medal of Courage from the sheriff’s office for his bravery , but K-9 Streeter is also the first four-legged first responder to receive our Smiles Behind the Shield Award.

“It was a proud moment that he was willing to, no matter what, go after a suspect,” K-9 Streeter’s handler, Deputy Kevin Stimmell, said. “But obviously there was a brief pause of oh no, that’s a 40-foot bridge my dog just went off of.”

Thankfully, K-9 Streeter only suffered minor injuries and is already back on the streets. It’s safe to say, Streeter’s 500-plus hours of training paid off.

“Most of our dogs are dual-purpose K-9s so they’re anywhere from doing narcotics detection to apprehension, to tracking, to article searches,” Stimmell said. “So there’s a ton of things when we go to work every night that our K-9s are responsible for so obviously there’s a huge amount of training, we never stop.”

Streeter’s sweet face comes with a strong name. Streeter was given to him to honor the late Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Corporal, Eric Streeter, who died in the line of duty in 1984. The Streeter family says they are glad their loved one’s name lives on.

“We are very very proud of him and he really does my husband’s name well,” Cpl. Eric Streeter’s wife, Carolyn Streeter said.

“I think it’s important for them to know that the Streeter name is still fighting crime here in Escambia County and hopefully keep doing that for a long time…Even if it means jumping off of a bridge,” Sheriff Simmons said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.