"Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog.
Tomorrow I'll probably still be
a dog. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement."
—Snoopy
HALIFAX, NS (Canada) — An exceptionally motivated rescuer and
his dog have been suspended from the police force for their miraculous
rescue of a survivor in the World Trade Center wreckage last month.
Suspended? Don't we mean promoted?
Perhaps even elevated-to-demigod-status? Not quite.
It seems that they forgot to ask the boss's permission, called in sick
to go to New York, and now they're busted.
Trakr gives partner Const. Symington a
hi-5.
(Photo: Darrel Oake / The
Daily News)
On September 11, Constable Jamie
Symington of the Halifax Regional Police force and his retired police
dog "Trakr" watched in horror at the televised coverage of the
New York City World Trade Center attacks. Const. Symington and his
friend Corporal Joe Hall grabbed their gear, loaded Trakr into a station
wagon and drove 15 hours from Prospect Bay, Nova Scotia to Manhattan.
The truant trio arrived at "the
pile" on Wednesday morning, September 12, and were quickly led to
the still-burning heap of rubble of the south tower.
Trakr, an 8-year-old German Shepherd,
had been trained in the Czech Republic and had joined the police force
in 1995 at the age of 14 months. After an illustrious six-year career
apprehending felons, recovering lost persons and detecting over $1
million of contraband, he was retired in May of this year. Coming
out of retirement for one last tour of duty, the dog was faced with a
nightmarish, sensory overload that few can imagine.
"It was like nothing [we] had ever
seen before," Cpl. Hall describes. "The sounds, the
smells, what we saw, it was just incredible."
Rescuers found little else but body
parts, but on Thursday, September 13, Trakr began to show interest in
one particular area of the rubble.
"We knew from his reaction that
someone was down there, and it was just a matter of just how far
underneath this debris the person might be," says Cpl. Hall.
Having indicated the spot, Trakr,
Const. Symington and Cpl. Hall deferred to emergency fire crews and
moved on.
"We just kept moving,"
explains Cpl. Hall. "It was so chaotic there, and having a
search dog really cuts down on the search time."
It was several hours before the heroic
team would learn that the fifth and final survivor had been pulled from
the twisted mass where Trakr had sensed someone. |
The three labored
on tirelessly, often in hazardous burning areas where they had to be
suddenly evacuated. On Friday, September 14, Trakr collapsed in
exhaustion and required emergency veterinary care. After being
treated with intravenous fluids, he was taken off the job, and the three
rescuers left to return home.
Trakr and Officer Symington wait
for a news conference to begin at his lawyer's office in Halifax, Nova
Scotia.
(Photo: AP / Andrew Vaughan)
The survivor, 32-year-old Genelle
Guzman, never met her four-legged rescuer. She has spent three
weeks recovering at Bellvue Hospital, where doctors believe she will
make a slow recovery from her extensive injuries. Ms. Guzman had
climbed down 64 flights after the south tower was hit and was on the
13th floor when the
entire building collapsed upon her, crushing her legs and pinning her
there for 28 hours in complete darkness and silence. (Photo: Charley Varley /
Associated New Media)
"Pain shot through me from what
seemed like every direction," she recalled. "I called
out, screaming until I was hoarse. I thought there had to be
others. Nobody answered me... Nobody else from my office
survived."
Const. Symington has been keeping quiet
since the rescue. He appeared on one televised news interview last
week which was what got him into trouble with his superiors at the
Halifax Police Department. Police Chief David McKinnon indicated
the problem "became apparent when we saw him on TV."
"Considering where he was and what
he was allegedly doing, the public, I'm sure, will dictate whether this
was the right thing for management to do," says Chief McKinnon,
speaking about Const. Symington's indefinite suspension (with
pay). "We're going to stand by him and provide him with
whatever resources he needs, until he gets his day in court."
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