MANISTEE COUNTY, MICH. (WWJ) An MSP K9 named Ox is hailed a hero for helping his handler track down a suspect in a hit-and-run of a woman on her bicycle in northern Michigan.
Michigan State Police were called to the scene of a crash involving a car and a bicyclist in Springdale Township on Friday around 3:45 p.m. When troopers arrived, they talked with a Traverse City woman, 41, who claimed to be the driver who struck the bicyclist. She later admitted she was the passenger. Troopers learned a Benzonia woman, 35, was the actual driver of the car, who ran away from the scene of the crash.
Route of the pursuit via Google MapsGoogle Maps via Michigan State Police Seventh District
The driver had a warrant out for her arrest. Troopers found methamphetamine and a stun gun in her car, State Police said.
State Police called in an MSP Canine Team, Trooper Unterbrink and K9 Ox, and established a perimeter. Ox and Trooper Unterbrink tracked the suspect "through approximately five miles of swamp and thick forest." Officers arrested her when she exited the forest onto a roadway. She is currently lodged in the Manistee County Jail.
The bicyclist, 73 of Thompsonville, was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
