Dog rescued by Amsterdam police officer
AMSTERDAM – It was right around 10:00 p.m. Sunday night when a little dog named Frankie fell down the steep bank on the west side of the South Chuctununda Creek. Mindful that her 15-year old American Eskimo breed is arthritic, hard of hearing, and partially blind, her frightened owner realized things weren’t necessarily going to end well.
[anvplayer video=”5135469″ station=”998132″]
When Amsterdam Police Sergeant Cory Lapati arrived on the scene, the creek bed was dark, rocks were slippery, and pools of water lay waiting for one missed step.
In that dangerous environment, a quivering 17-pound dog needed help.
“She’s got some arthritis and it’s probably difficult for her to hoist herself out on her own,” Frankie’s owner said.
Realizing the difficulty for Frankie’s self escape, and unsure if the animal may have been injured in the fall, Lapati pressed on.
“She was running back and forth and trying to find her own way up and she was not having luck,” Frankie’s owner noticed.
An Amsterdam police officer, with body camera turned on, came to the rescue Sunday night of a dog that fell and was trapped in the creek bed of the South Chuctununda Creek.
Lapati, with his body camera switched in the ON position, was eventually able to latch Frankie’s leash onto her collar, but to complete the rescue he’d have to blaze a trail through high weeds, wet rocks, and steep terrain, and then hoist Frankie to her owner over a high retaining wall.
“He sort of hoisted her up on top of the wall and I was pulling her down over into my arms,” Frankie’s owner recalled, “Frankie passed out on me. She was shaking for quite a bit. We kept adding blankets until she was warm and stopped shaking. It was several hours later but she’s fine now.”
Amsterdam Police shared the video with the public to highlight how their department is committed to protecting and serving all in the community, both two-legged and four.