KENT, Wash. — A Kent police K-9 officer known as Kato has been found after he disappeared while responding to a call.
Kato, along with his handler, Officer E. Tung, was sent to a call Thursday night in the 26200 block of 147th Avenue Southeast in Kent.
Kato was helping police look for a hit-and-run suspect around 11 p.m. in the Lake Meridian area.
His handler released him to look for the suspect and Kato never came back. After a 2 and a half hour search, Kato was spotted about a half mile away by the King County chopper Guardian One's infrared sensor. He was sleeping in someone's backyard.
The K-9 officer is the same police dog that was stabbed in the line of duty last year. Kato was on a suspect search in Des Moines last September when he was stabbed in the shoulder. He has since made a full recovery.
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