Police dog stabbed by fugitive

Dog supervisor Grant Diver, left, and Senior Constable Dave Whyte with 'Edge' after the attack. Picture / Hawke's Bay Today

A critically injured police dog was airlifted to a vet after being stabbed while trying to subdue a fugitive in rural Hawke's Bay this morning.

Senior Sergeant Mike O'Leary said police from Hastings were called to a property at Maraekakaho, 30km west of Hastings, at about 8am following reports of a man acting suspiciously on a farm.

When the man was approached by police and a dog team he fled across farmland but pulled a knife when located in a forestry block soon afterwards.

"He then started...stabbing himself with that knife," Mr O'Leary said.

Police dog Edge was released on to the man in an attempt to stop him and was knifed in the chest.

Mr O'Leary said the man was apprehended and disarmed but not before the dog sustained "critical injuries".

Police operations manager John Fairley, who was with the dog and Mr Whyte at the vets, said the dog had been stabbed several times.

He told Hawke's Bay Today he didn't know what the prognosis was but was hopeful Edge would survive.

"He is receiving the best vet care available," he said. "He is part of the police family but for the police handler he is part of his own family."

Mr Fairley said the dog had been operational for the last six months.

"The dogs cost thousands of dollars in time and effort to get them to this stage."

Mr O'Leary said the knifeman was wanted on outstanding warrants and appeared to have been hiding out in the area where he was found.

He was treated by ambulance staff at the scene and then taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital for treatment and remains in a serious condition.

Mr O'Leary said two-year-old Edge was flown by Westpac rescue helicopter to a vet in Havelock North where he underwent emergency surgery.

The man has been charged for the outstanding warrants, and also for resisting arrest, being unlawfully on a property, and possession of a knife.

Further charges relating to the stabbing of the dog were likely to follow, Mr O'Leary said.

- NZPA, HAWKE'S BAY TODAY