Police chief's daughter killed by former drug detection dog

Daily Mail​

a day ago

A Colorado police chief's three-year-old daughter has been mauled to death by a former drug detection dog at their family home. The young girl was attacked Monday in the backyard of Chief Nathan Hill's family residence in Burlington, a small city situated along the Colorado- Kansas border. First responders arrived to the home within minutes of the attack and found the girl unresponsive in the yard alongside her frantic mother.
The child was rushed to nearby Kit Carson County Memorial Hospital and later pronounced dead. Her name has not been released. The dog, identified as K-9 Draco, was not actively attacking the child by the time first responders arrived at the scene. He had been locked up in a secure kennel. Draco, a German shepherd trained as a single-purpose narcotics detection K-9 for the Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office, was taken to a the local pound and euthanized.
Draco had been donated to the Burlington Police Department and was 'recently taken out of service' after the sheriff's office ended its K-9 program. Hill has been housing the dog at his residence and was not home at the time of the attack. Kit Carson Sheriff Travis Beldon said the attack was out of character for Draco, who has not been trained in any kind of bite work.
'He's trained for detection. He's not in any way trained for patrol work, apprehension, anything that would involve biting,' Beldon told KUSA . 'So it is very uncharacteristic for him to attack in this fashion.' Draco was introduced to the Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office in September 2023 after having undergone weeks of 'rigorous' training out-of-state, the department said in a Facebook post at the time. It is unclear how long he has been inactive, but a separate Facebook post revealed he was used in a traffic stop to detect drugs as recently as June 19 this year.
Beldon claims Cheyenne County officials struggled to keep a handler for Draco, who is approximately three years old now. The sheriff described the K-9's active status as having been 'off and on recently'. Kit Carson Sheriff's Office has not said what may have led up to the attack, but notes the incident remains under investigation. Officials do not expect any criminal charges to be filed in the case.
'The City of Burlington staff is a family, and our hearts are hurting for the family and those affected by this unfortunate event,' Burlington police said in a statement. 'We would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to the Kit Carson County Sheriff's Office, Burlington Police Department, first responders and hospital staff for their swift and professional response. Their dedication and hard work in the face of adversity are truly commendable.' Hill was appointed Burlington Police Chief in January 2021, after serving as the force's interim chief since May 2020.
He replaced Chief Barry Romans who retired from the position in November 2019 citing personal reasons, The Burlington Record reported. 'It is an honor and a privilege to have been selected as the City of Burlington's next chief of police,' Hill said at the time of his appointment. He hailed Burlington as a 'great community to live and work in' and claimed the police department 'sincerely appreciates Burlington's citizens'.
Hill was officially appointed chief by city council after he completed a leadership training course and 'passed with flying colors'. At the time, he was pursuing a college degree in criminal justice and had just finished establishing a network of police chiefs in the region. Beldon says the tight-knit Burlington community is grieving the loss of Hill's daughter.
'It's an incident that's extremely tragic. You know it will affect this community for a little bit,' he told the news outlet. 'It's something that's gonna be in the back of everybody's mind for a while.' Hill and his wife are also understood to share a son. It is unclear how old he is.