Police Department

K-9 Incidents

Cpl. Ronald Van Tassel

Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 7:53 a.m.

Spokane Police Officers utilize their K-9’s, two nights in a row to end potentially dangerous situations, highlighting the importance of a well trained K-9 program.

The first incident began last week when 40 year old William Ellis fled in a vehicle from a traffic stop, refusing to let his girlfriend out of the vehicle. Ellis drove down an alleyway, hit several garages and crashed into a pole. He fled on foot and was not located that night. On 1-16-21 Officers located Ellis inside a residence in the 2900 block of E Everett. Officers had probable cause to arrest him for attempting to elude (vehicle pursuit), hit and run and unlawful imprisonment. Ellis has 16 felony convictions, which include three more counts of attempting to elude. Suspecting that Ellis was going to attempt to flee, Officers put together a plan and surrounded the residence. When Ellis knew that Police were closing in, he attempted to flee out the back of the residence. However, K-9 Ofc Stone and his partner Haywire were out back waiting. Ellis did flee back into the residence and after some time, he was taken into custody. It is believed that the only reason Ellis was not able to flee into the neighborhood, endangering citizens in the area is because he saw Haywire and went back inside his residence.

On 1-16-21 Officers responded to 9600 N Division for a domestic violence. Officers contacted the victim, who advised that the suspect, 38 year old Aaron Meyers, had left in a vehicle. During the investigation, Officers learned that Meyers had strangled the victim during a violent assault and there was probable cause to arrest him for felony, 2^nd degree assault.  A short time later a Deputy with Spokane County Sheriff’s Department saw the vehicle being driven by Meyers. They attempted to catch up, but Meyers fled at high speeds.

Deputies located the vehicle parked in a driveway in northeast Spokane. Officers and Deputies set a perimeter in the area. There was reason to arrest Meyers now for at least two felony charges. His car was located, but it was unknown where Meyers was. Spokane PD brought in K-9 Officer Gorman and his partner Slash to search for Meyers. Slash went through a couple yards and over a fence. He located Meyers hiding in bush in the backyard of a residence. Meyers started to struggle and fight with Officers. Officers later said that Meyers seemed to be in an altered state of mind, most likely from drug usage. Due to this, even the usage of a taser did not stop Meyers from fighting. Several Officers were finally able to subdue Meyers and get him into custody.

The only reason that Officers were able to find Meyers and get him into custody is from the help of K-9 Slash. Meyers was in a dangerous state of mind. He had assaulted his girlfriend, fled in a vehicle at high speeds and was now in a citizen’s back yard. He was acting unpredictable and if he was not located by the K-9 unit, who knows what he was going to do next.

We would also like to thank the citizens who witnessed and then called in on Meyers after assaulting his girlfriend. Without this help, Officers and Deputies would not have been able to find Meyers as quickly as they did.

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