HURRICANE, Utah — Alisa Brewer and her daughter, Haven, live a few blocks away from where officers responded to a stranger walking into a home on December 26, leading to a confrontation between him and the police in which shots were fired and a K9 officer was stabbed.
READ: Police K-9 critically injured, man fatally shot by officers in Hurricane
“It was scary, we could see all the lights from the window, we didn’t know what was going on,” said Alisa.
“When we heard that he stabbed a cop dog, we were pretty upset and pretty worried.”
After days of recovery in the hospital, K9 Riko, a a 5½-year-old Belgian malinois/German shepherd mix, made it back home December 29 to Hurricane.
“Everybody in this whole community has been pulling for Riko, and he’s doing great,” said Alisa.
“The support is unreal. Riko is home and doing great. Because of Riko’s crazy determination and strength, the doctors are hopeful for a full recovery. Words can’t explain how grateful I am for all of the amazing care Riko received,” said Rico's partner, Officer Eric DeMille with the Hurriance City Policy Department.
So Alisa and Haven wanted to do something for him.
“We thought we’d reach out to the community and maybe see if we could get enough money together to get a gift basket or something for him, but then it kind of blew up.”
In just 24 hours, $500 was collected to help Riko and Enzo, the K9 from St. George who gave blood to help Riko recover.
“Two treat baskets—one was for Riko, one was for Enzo, and then we gave the rest of the money specifically to the K9 units,” said Alisa.
Alisa and Haven met Enzo and his partner at Bon Appetite, to order the dog treat baskets and give the checks to the police department.
“Having the trust of the community, having the faith of the community, knowing that we have the ability to put things like this together, means a whole lot to us,” said DeMille.
And they say their work and passion for giving back will continue.
“We will always have our eyes open for a good cause, and we will always try to bring people together to help because a little bit from everybody can do a whole lot for somebody.”
