Police chief’s young daughter mauled to death by trained K-9

A Colorado police chief’s young daughter was reportedly mauled to death by a law enforcement-trained K-9 on Monday.

The now-euthanized German Shepard, Draco, previously worked with the Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office as a narcotics detection dog but was recently taken out of service after his “KS program” was terminated.

It appears he was then “housed” by Burlington Police Chief Nathan Hill, who reportedly wasn’t home at the time of Monday’s attack.

According to a report from the Kit Carson County Sheriff’s Office, sometime Monday, they received a call about a child, now identified as Hill’s daughter, being attacked by a dog, now identified as Draco.

“Sheriff Travis Belden and Deputy Darrin Newberry arrived on scene within a minute of dispatch receiving the call,” the report reads. “Upon arrival, they located the mother and an unresponsive 3-year-old child in the back yard of the residence.”

“The dog was not actively attacking upon arrival and was secure in a kennel. EMS arrived within seconds, and the child was taken to Kit Carson County Memorial Hospital. Despite best efforts by medical staff, the child was eventually declared deceased,” it continues.

“We our deeply saddened by the tragic incident that occurred within the city limits of Burlington, CO,” the Burlington Police Department said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to Chief Nate Hill, his wife, and family for the loss of their little girl, who was a victim of a dog attack.”

What remains unclear is what led up to the attack.

What’s known is that, according to the Kit Carson County Sheriff’s Office, Draco was never “trained in any kind of bite work to include protection or apprehension,” which unfortunately raises even more questions.

“Cheyenne County donated the dog to the Burlington Police Department, but the dog was not actively in service. Burlington Police Chief Nathan Hill was housing the dog at his residence at the time of the incident,” the office’s report notes.

A press release published by the Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office shows that Draco was used as recently as June 19, when the office “executed a traffic stop on a vehicle subsequent to observing the vehicle traveling at 93mph in a designated 65mph zone.”

“During the stop, Deputies developed suspicions regarding the driver’s behavior and statements,” the press release read. “K9 Draco was deployed to conduct a free air sniff, resulting in a positive alert on the vehicle indicative of the presence of controlled substances.”

“Deputies conducted a probable cause search of the vehicle, yielding the discovery of 13.7 grams of controlled substances, including Methamphetamine, Heroin, and Fentanyl, concealed within the vehicle,” the press release continued.

Evidently, Draco was good at his job.

“K-9 Draco was introduced to the Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office in 2023, and would be approximately three years old now,” according to a report from local station KENS.

“[Kit Carson Sheriff Travis] Beldon said that the department has struggled to keep a handler for the dog, which is why the dog’s active status has been off and on recently,” the report continued.

But the struggle reportedly wasn’t Draco’s fault.

In a press release published on Aug. 3, the Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office reported having placed the latest handler “on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation” after said handler was arrested in neighboring Kit Carson County.

The case involving Draco and Burlington Police Chief Hill’s daughter was still under active investigation as of Thursday.

According to Beldon, Hill also has a son.

“It’s an incident that’s extremely tragic,” he told KENS. “You know it will affect this community for a little bit. It’s something that’s gonna be in the back of everybody’s mind for a while.”

While a dog mauling an innocent person occurs more often than it should, K-9s mauling innocent people are especially rare, but it does clearly happen.

One of the more recent incidents occurred late last year in December when a Montana K-9 “freed itself from its kennel and bit a man doing yard work nearby,” as reported by The Sacramento Bee.

When the police arrived, they tried to stop the attack but failed, prompting them to have to kill the K-9 with “two fatal blows” to the head.