Over the weekend, police in Carver, Massachusetts, got a call that a truck and had crashed into a pond at South Meadow Village. When officers Melo and Harriman arrived, they discovered a tranquil scene — on the surface of the pond, all was still, but submerged eight feet down, they could just make out a Toyota Tacoma.
On the shore was Debra Titus and one of her dogs. She and the dog had escaped the truck as it sank, and they swam to shore. But her second dog — a Chihuahua named Moochie — was still inside. Titus was frantic. Officer Harriman has an English Bulldog at home, and he’s known in the department as an avid dog lover. He took off his gun belt.
“We showed up at the water and saw the vehicle was submerged,” he told BostonHerald.com. “We were told a dog was still in it so I did what I felt I should do — go in and get the dog.”
He gave his gun belt to his partner and jumped in, held his breath, and swam down to the car to save Moochie. “It definitely wasn’t easy. I was able to get the door open and then go through some items in the back until I was able to find the dog,” he said.
Moochie, however, wasn’t moving. Officer Harriman gave him “a little squeeze,” and the dog came to life. They sped to the surface of the water.
“Once I got him out of the water, he was breathing,” Herriman said. “I was getting air and he was getting air.”
Moochie was unhurt by the ordeal and returned to his owner “in good health but a little frightened,” according to Carver Police Facebook page.
As for Harriman, he headed back home to get set of dry clothes — “We only had a few officers, so I had to get back to work” — but he returned later to see how Moochie was doing.
“An hour later, when I went back to the scene, he looked like a little fluff ball,” he said. “We’d all do it. I know it’s something that’s important to us.”
Meanwhile, that photo of Harriman and the dog atop the submerged car is going viral; it’s racked up more than 45,000 likes on the Carver police department’s tiny Facebook page since Saturday. We think it should get a few hundred thousand more. Go and like it.
Via BostonHerald.com.
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