Police dogs can solve riddles that are way out of the reach of their human counterparts, owing to their keen sense of smell and finely tuned animal instincts. As such, K-9 officers are a valuable asset to police forces everywhere. One K-9 officer in particular is being celebrated after rescuing an elderly woman who got lost in the woods.
Police dog Saby has worked with Officer Dustin Brock of the Birmingham Police SRT K9 Unit for approximately two years, and on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, Brock had reason to be especially proud of his well-trained colleague. Saby’s keen skills were tested when he was put to the task of tracking down Loudell Hubbard, a 90-year-old woman from Birmingham, Alabama, who had wandered away from her home.
Hubbard has dementia, and when the alarm was raised, everybody on the search team had particular concern for her safety.
Hubbard, it turned out, had wandered a full mile and a half from her home on Killough Circle and had fallen into a creek on the Monday night. She found herself stuck, but made efforts to find a comfortable position by laying her purse down like a pillow in the water. The damp conditions paired with Hubbard’s advanced age made her isolation all the more distressing. Hubbard stayed put overnight, enduring the darkness and solitude of the creek all by herself.
The 90-year-old Hubbard was, however, found soaked through from the creek and with bruises on her body. She was rushed immediately to hospital so that doctors could make a thorough assessment of her condition.
Brock relived the moment of Saby’s discovery. “The same time [Officer] Richard came around the corner Saby was pulling me towards the creek,” he regaled, illustrating the dog’s extraordinary powers of sense perception. “I come around and she was laying in the creek. I yelled ‘Ma’am can you hear me?’” Brock recalled. Mercifully, Hubbard raised her head to acknowledge the police search team, and the team went straight to her aid.
One of Hubbard’s concerned neighbors, Frederick Jones, spoke on behalf of the whole neighborhood when he said that the people waiting at home for news of Hubbard’s safe return “had faith.”
“At the time everyone was still hopeful,” he said. “They had faith and was positive.” And speaking of their reaction when Hubbard was found, he continued: “Joy. It was joy. Everybody was just elated. Everybody was thanking God and just elated.”
Hubbard is cared about by a close-knit and God-fearing community who knew exactly who to thank for her safe return. “The scripture tells us to love thy neighbor as thy self,” Jones exclaimed. “That’s where we are with this.”
Officer Brock was touched by the entire ordeal and couldn’t help but relate Hubbard’s traumatic experience to the knowledge that it could happen to anyone. “When we got the call,“ Brock reflected, ”I was thinking if it was my grandmother I would hope someone would use all resources to go find her.”
K-9 Officer Saby, you saved the day.
