A woman who went missing found her way back home — all thanks to a hero dog.
The City of Greenwood Village Government in Colorado shared a post on Facebook detailing the heroic rescue, which occurred on Thursday, May 2.
The agency said that on that day, local police received a report of an 85-year-old woman who had gone missing for „two hours.” In response, the police sent out their search and rescue K-9 Mercury and his handler, Officer Austin Speer, to find her.
The City of Greenwood Village Government shared footage from a police body camera of the pair’s search for the missing woman in a grassy and hilly area. In the short clip, Mercury heads through a clearing of bushes before running toward an open area after spotting the woman. Officer Speer encourages the canine during the rescue, saying, „Good boy, buddy” to the dog.
Mercury located the woman „clinging to a tree down a steep ravine” in an area „where she could not be seen from the roadway or canal,” the City of Greenwood Village Government said on social media.
In the body cam footage of the rescue, Officer Speer spots the missing woman after Mercury finds her and comforts her with good news.
„This is a friendly dog. He found you!” the officer tells the woman in the clip. „That’s good,” she responds.
The video ends with the officer telling the woman, „We’re going to get you home, okay?”
In its post on Mercury’s rescue, the City of Greenwood Village Government also shared a photo of Officer Speer, Mercury, and the woman looking positive and standing safely on a bridge near a ravine.
„The resident has been returned safely to her family thanks to the hard work of Officer Speer and Mercury, with additional support from Corporal Brandon Runyan and Officer Roberto Moya,” the city government wrote on Facebook. „Thank you for keeping our community safe!”
A person commented on the post, claiming that it was his mother who was rescued by Mercury. According to the commenter, the woman got „gassed out” after trying to „climb this hill” and had been „unable to move.” He said he had searched for her „for two hours” before Officer Speer and Mercury found her „in ten minutes.”
„UNBELIEVABLE! It was like watching a Navy Seal extraction: I am so grateful to live in the City of Greenwood Village Government,” he said, adding his thanks to the officer and K-9 unit.
Greenwood Village noted that Mercury joined the Greenwood Village Police Department about a year and a half ago after demonstrating his ace skills in „searching and tracking missing persons” and „narcotics detection.”