K9 Barrett

Barrett

K9 Barrett succumbed to injuries he received when he was assaulted while apprehending a subject fleeing the scene of a vehicle crash at 5:20 a.m. on Route 12 in Preston on December 11, 2021.

When K9 Barrett and his handler arrived at the crash scene, the driver was hiding behind a tree and pointing what appeared to be a gun at the officer. As soon as the officer pointed his weapon in return and issued commands to drop the gun, the subject fled into the wooded area. K9 Barrett was given the order to search for the subject. The officer found K9 Barrett 200 feet into the woods, latched onto the subject by the leg. The man was punching K9 Barrett and continued to hold on to K9 Barrett by the jaw, pushing his fingers into his eyes and hitting him in the head despite attempts by the officer to apprehend the subject. Only when the subject received Taser probes did he let go of K9 Barrett and attack the officer instead. The officer was able to subdue the subject and arrest him.

After the arrest, K9 Barrett was bleeding from his nose but did not seem to have any adverse medical effects. However, he quickly began experiencing seizures caused by a brain bleed that was the result of the continual blows to the head. As the seizures increased and because the brain bleed was inoperable, he was euthanized on June 1, 2023.

The subject, a convicted felon listed on the Deadly Weapon Offender Registry, was charged with numerous offenses, including operating under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, cruelty to animals/injuring peace officer animal, assault on a police officer, two counts of criminal possession of a firearm, and two counts of possession of a stolen firearm. He has pleaded guilty and faces a plea deal of four years in prison.

K9 Barrett had served with the Montville Police Department for five years.