MP, one of the Anchorage Police Department’s K-9 units, was stabbed three times while pursuing a suspect down an alley in Mountain View early Saturday morning, according to a statement from APD.
Just after 1:30 a.m., officers were called to the area of North Flower Street and Peterkin Avenue in response to a disturbance between two men, one of whom was described as having a machete and trying to stab the other.
Upon arrival to the scene, officers found Nole Hommerding, 37, on the front porch of a residence wielding the reported machete. After police commanded him to drop the machete, Hommerding took off running.
APD reports that officer Nathan Keays and his K-9 partner, MP, pursued the suspect down an alley. K-9 unit MP bit Hommerding in an attempt to apprehend him. The suspect responded by hitting and stabbing the dog multiple times with a pocket knife.
Hommerding was subdued with a taser by Keays, subsequently taken into custody and charged with harming a police dog in the first-degree, third-degree assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Bail was set at $15,000, plus a third-party custodian.
MP underwent surgery for the stab wounds and is expected to survive the incident, according to police. MP, an 8-year-old Belgian Malinois, was made possible by the Dollars for Dogs program and has served the Anchorage Police Department since 2009.