Canine escapes coat to capture fleeing suspect
Despite a suspect’s efforts to throw a coat over the dog’s head, a Sheriff’s Office canine stopped an armed man fleeing from deputies in a stolen car in North Kansas City on Saturday.
Gladstone Police spotted the stolen vehicle leaving a restaurant parking lot in their city at about 1:52 p.m. March 18. The vehicle fled from them south on North Oak Trafficway. At Vivion and North Oak, a Clay County Sheriff’s deputy successfully deployed his tire-deflation device, disabling the suspect vehicle’s passenger-side tires.
Sheriff’s deputies took over the pursuit as it entered North Kansas City. The vehicle became disabled due to its flat tires at E. 23rd Avenue and Swift Street. The driver got out and started running through backyards. Two deputies – one of which was a canine deputy and his dog – ran after the suspect and saw him reaching for his waistband. They caught up with the suspect in the front yard of a home in the 2100 block of Clay Street. The deputies told him to stop and get on the ground. He didn’t, so after giving a warning, the canine deputy deployed K9 Duke to apprehend him.
K9 Duke grabbed onto a corner the suspect’s coat. The suspect still refused to follow commands, took off his coat, and threw a second coat over Duke’s head. Undeterred, Duke got out of the other coat and held the suspect’s leg until deputies could take him into custody. The suspect was transported to the hospital for treatment of the bite before being booked into the Clay County Detention Center.
About 10 feet from where he was arrested, deputies located a handgun the suspect had thrown during the foot-chase. The stolen vehicle he was driving had apparent methamphetamine inside, and he had drugs on his person. He had multiple felony warrants.
The suspect, 46-year-old Monte L. Meeks, has now been charged with resisting arrest, tampering with a motor vehicle and drug possession in the incident. His bond has been set at $150,000.
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