An Arvin, California, police officer saved a dog chained in the backyard of a burning mobile home.
Video shows Officer Adam Calderon responding on July 10 to a mobile home engulfed in flames. Having learned from the homeowners that their dog was chained up behind the home, Calderon ran across the neighbor’s yard in an attempt to save the dog. (RELATED: DeSantis Signs Bill Granting Injured Police Dogs The Right To Ride In Ambulances)
The bodycam footage then shows Calderon climbing over the fence and calling out to the frightened dog. The officer initially attempts to remove the chain from the wooden fence to which it was attached before trying to pull the dog toward him, only to have the frightened pit bull refuse to budge.
Calling updates into his radio and reassurances to the dog, Calderon then breaks down a section of the fence and tries to coax the animal through through the hole.
“It’s ok. It’s ok. You gotta jump over! Come on!” Calderon can be heard saying in the bodycam video.
A police officer in California saved a dog chained outside a mobile home fire fully engulfed in flames Monday.https://t.co/cEDWcgydX1
— 7News DC (@7NewsDC) July 14, 2023
The officer then climbs into the neighboring yard and askes a bystander for a pair of boltcutters. Failing to find any, he grabs a pair of hedge trimmers and runs back to the fence, where the dog had jumped through the gap but was still trapped in its chain.
Groaning with effort and crying out, “Sorry, doggy! I’m trying” to the panicking pit bull, Calderon gnashed the chain between the trimmer’s blades again and again until a link finally gave way, freeing the dog, which he then led to safety.
The Arvin Police Department reported that Caldeon “never thought about giving up and clearly saved that dog’s life. Once got the dog to safety, he comforted him and said, ‘I told you that you could trust me,'” according to ABC7 News.