October 15, 2005
Ranger 2001 - 2005
I know that thousands of people are dead in Pakistan. Here, in our own country, almost a thousand are dead and hundred of thousands are homeless, due to the recent hurricanes. But, the following upsets me every time I read it:
A best friend remembered
By Tracy Manzer, Staff writer
LONG BEACH — Everyone who saw the raw anguish on Officer Mike Parcells' face as he carried his mortally wounded K-9 partner Ranger to a waiting team of veterinarian medics last week felt his pain.
That moment captured on film and played out on TV sets throughout the country clearly showed the dogs that comprise the Long Beach Police Department's K-9 Detail are more than just animals trained to look for dangerous suspects, explosive materials or drugs.
But does the dogs' amazing capacity for sniffing out what humans may never find outweigh the emotional toll of losing these trusting animals in the line of duty?
"Absolutely," a shaken Parcells said Tuesday, in his first interview since Ranger was shot and killed Oct. 3, most likely by gang member Augustin Murguia Jr., police said. A gun battle with SWAT team members ensued, and Murguia subsequently died.
"As hard as it is to go through this, I would rather lose my K-9 partner than one of my human partners," Parcells said. "I know (the suspect) wasn't shooting at the dog, he was shooting at us. If it hadn't been for Ranger, we would have had an officer killed that night."
That offers Parcells some comfort, he said, during a miserable time for his family, his fellow officers and himself.
Parcells — a 12-year veteran — worked with Ranger — a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois — for the last two years and said he was constantly amazed at the dog's talents and boundless energy. The pair logged 40 hours a week, not including overtime for SWAT calls, spent 240 hours in a handlers' course and continued to train almost every day together once in the field.
Home to the kids Ranger went home every night with Parcells to the officer's wife and two little boys. The two were so close that Parcells said he felt not only did his dog trust him implicitly, but that Parcells knew he could trust his life with his K-9.
"Had I known that (Murguia) was armed, we never would have sent Ranger in," Parcells said. "We could see his arm, and we didn't see a gun."
"It's my job to make sure he's safe, and his job to keep me safe," Parcells said, holding back tears. "It just didn't work out that way that night."
Parcells recalled the violent evening with painful clarity, from the detail of seeing the muzzle flash as Murguia opened fire, to the sight of Ranger jumping up onto the porch and biting at his aching back legs that would no longer hold the young dog up.
It took about four minutes for Parcells and several fellow officers to get an armored vehicle into the yard, then use a bullet-proof shield to rush up to Ranger and pull him to safety.
The frisky and determined Ranger kept straining to get up as Parcells and K-9 Officer Ernie Wolocewicz sped in a black and white SUV to the helicopter pad.
"I could only find one wound, and it didn't look too bad," Parcells remembered. "I told Ernie, 'There's not much blood," and he said, 'hat's because he's bleeding inside."
Flight to Tustin
Ranger looked eagerly out of the window of the Police Department helicopter as he was flown to an emergency veterinary hospital in Tustin.
And Parcells stayed by his K-9 partner as medical staff prodded the dog while preparing him for surgery, stroking the dog's head to quiet him during the painful procedure.
Even after Ranger was sedated for surgery — during which a doctor removed one lung and sutured a ruptured artery — Parcells stayed with his dog. Ranger survived for another 20 minutes out of the operating room, then died.
He had simply lost too much blood, the doctor said.
Asked if he thought it helped the dog to have him there and Parcells said, "I know it did. … When they started poking him and sticking him he tried to nip at the (medics), but as soon as I started to rub his head, he was calm."
Today, the rest of the Police Department will honor Ranger and another dog — Wolocewicz's Belgian Malinois Drago, who died about two weeks ago in an accident — at a public ceremony scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at the Long Beach Police Academy, 7290 E. Carson St.
More than 100 K-9 officers from various agencies are expected to attend the service and officials say they have no idea how many members of the public will turn out.
Parcells alone has received at least 1,000 letters from people across the country offering their condolences, many of them penned by children who saw Ranger during this year's Fourth of July parade, or who met Ranger in classroom visits.
Donations offered
Donations to replace the K-9 have been plentiful, from the meager allowances and savings of kids to a pledge from Ralph's grocery store chain for $10,000.
A number of the notes and cards have moved the officers to tears.
And when the boys on the Mighty Might Football team that Parcells coaches had Ranger's face embroidered on their jerseys, the tough veteran said it was all he could do to keep from breaking down.
"You know, being a cop, we see a lot of the bad in people. It's easy to become calloused," Parcells said. "But knowing how much this dog touched people, and seeing the outpouring of support has been amazing. It makes you realize why you do this job in the first place. I can't say thank you enough to these people."
Now eight K-9 patrol dogs remain, and Parcells is preparing for the purchase of a new dog to replace Ranger. In addition to the patrol dogs, the LBPD has five other specially trained dogs, two that can find narcotics, two that sniff out explosives and one bloodhound that is flown all over the country to work a variety of searches.
Although he does not know if he's ready for his new K-9 partner, Parcells said he knows he does not want to leave the detail — which he has worked for five years. Ranger was his' second dog. Barry, his first K-9 partner, was retired at the age of 12 and died about six months later.
"The toughest thing is retirement," said Officer Joe Valenzuela, one of Parcells' colleagues. "Nothing is worse than going to work without out your dog who doesn't understand that he's not strong enough to work any more."
The dogs left behind also seem to know something is wrong, he added.
"The pain moves down the leash," he said.
Sadness at home
Perhaps what has been most difficult for Parcells is explaining Ranger's death to his two young sons. The eldest, who is 8 years old, seems to understand. But his 5-year-old can't quite comprehend what is going on.
The night after Ranger died, Parcells went to feed the family pet — a Golden Retriever named Harley. His 5-year-old went to get both dogs' dishes, as he has always done every night with his dad.
"I said what are you doing baby, Ranger's not coming back," he said, shaking with tears. "He said, 'I know dad, but when he does (he'll be hungry)." '
While the boys did not play with Ranger quite the same way they do with Harley, he was still a huge part of the family.
When he wasn't working, Ranger loved to play in the backyard with Harley, chase balls and lay in the sun. He would snack on hotdogs that the boys would sneak him, and Ranger thought paddling around the family pool was a blast.
But the minute Parcells would appear in uniform, it was as though a switch would go off in the K-9's head. Every morning when Parcells would open the door to go to work, Ranger would already be spinning in circles and barking, eager to get the day started.
"That was his thing, to spin. When he would find a suspect he would stop and bark, and then spin," Parcells laughed. "The first time we saw him do it we were all looking at each other like, 'What is this?"
Vacations were kind of tough. Ranger didn't understand why they weren't going into work on those occasions, and would bark at his partner as if to remind Parcells that they were running late and needed to get a move on.
His expression was a playful one — caught perfectly in a portrait painted by Garden Grove resident Cassidy Alexander — that looked as though he was smiling.
Ranger is the fourth dog to be lost in the line of duty since the K-9 Detail was created in 1978, and only the second dog to be shot. The first, Asko, was trying to take an armed suspect into custody during a SWAT call out in 1989 when he was shot in the face, with the bullet traveling through his mouth and out of his neck.
Asko survived his wound and went on to work until his retirement in 1993. He never slowed down or showed any fear, despite the trauma of the shooting, and his trust in his handler, Lt. Steve Ditmars, was never shaken.
"I wouldn't have let him go back to work if it had," Ditmars said. "It's the hardest thing you'll ever have to do, but you don't belong on the job if you can't do it."
Parcells now faces Ditmars' old dilemma, and says he knows the horrible memories of last week will be in the back of his mind on his first call out with his new dog.
But, like his fellow officers, he knows that he will have to separate that part of his heart that cared for Ranger as though he was one of his kids from the part of his mind that knows the dogs are one of many tools that an officer uses, and that they are there to do a job.
"If I had to do it all over again, I would," he said simply.
Posted by Valkyre at October 15, 2005 10:52 PM