Bodycam footage has been released of a sheriff’s deputy rushing to a missing three-year-old Michigan boy who was found by the officer’s police dog Monday evening.
Police responded to a 911 call around 4 p.m. after learning a toddler had disappeared from his home, according to an incident report from the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office
Kuno, a police dog, and his handler, Deputy Eric Calhoun, responded to the scene 30 minutes after the child was last seen. They found a footprint near the house and Kuno was able to pick up the boy’s trail.
The scent trail led the duo to a body of water less than a mile from the boy’s home.
The bodycam footage showed a second deputy running after Kuno and Calhoun and shouting “hey buddy!” called out. before picking up and comforting the crying child.
The little boy was found 50 meters away from the water, wearing only a diaper and asking for his mother.
Police dog Kuno helped save a three-year-old boy who wandered away from his home in Michigan
The toddler is the fifth missing child that K-9 Kuno has found
Pictured: Bodycam footage from when Kuno, a police dog, and his handler, Deputy Eric Calhoun, followed the boy’s scent trail
The bodycam footage showed a second officer running after the duo before picking up the crying child and comforting him
“The little child… did what children do. I just left,” Van Buren C. Abbott told the local NBC affiliate WOOD.
“That particular K-9 has already found four children with the same type of scenario. So dispatch contacted that K-9 officer and he responded immediately.”
Drones from the South Haven Area Emergency Services Authority and Great Lakes Drones found the boy at the same time as the deputy and Kuno.
“God willing, we had a good and positive ending,” Abbott said.
“Where they recovered this little child – you’re talking two or three minutes later, we might have had a different outcome.”
The child suffered minor scratches but was otherwise in good health, the sheriff’s office said.
The child was missing for about an hour, from the time the 911 call was received.
Abbott told the local ABC affiliate WZZM that Calhoun’s goal “is to have the number one dog in the state of Michigan, if not the nation.”
Pictured: K-9 Kuno basking in all his glory
Pictured: Deputy Eric Calhoun and K-9 Kuno in front of a police cruiser
“This is a deputy on his days off, setting up training with other agencies so he can stay current with this dog.”
Calhoun told The independent that he has a special bond with Kuno.
“The bond between me and K-9 Kuno is somewhat unbearable. It’s like having another child,” Calhoun said.
“At the end of my shift I take him home, he socializes with my family and then I get to take him to work and work with me for 12 hours.”