May 9, 2017
An excerpt from the book, “Some Gave All,” available from the author or on Amazon.
By Mike Simmons
They are described by the American Kennel Club as “Affectionate with family,” “Good with young children,” and “Good with other dogs.” In other words, they are social animals. They love everyone! That is the description of beagles!
That was Freckles. She loved the attention she got from everyone, especially her handler. She would have been a good emotional support animal. According to officers from the Okaloosa Correctional Institution, she made everyone feel good.
But her most important asset was her nose. A human’s nose has about five million scent receptors. A beagle’s nose has…220 million scent receptors. We smell pizza – smells good. A beagle smells the pepperoni, tomato paste, mushrooms, pizza dough, cheese – all independently. Yeah – once we have smelled something and get an idea, a beagle is just getting started! Some people refer to them as “a nose with feet on it.”
Those two qualities made Freckles the best tracker you could ask for. She could smell anything…ANYTHING. And, when she knew that tracking that scent made her handler happy, she would track to the edge of the earth! So, when an inmate decided to step out and escape, Freckles could track him to the moon if necessary.
Freckles was born in 2006, making her the old girl among Okaloosa CI’s K9 units. Even though she still had the drive and the desire, she didn’t have the stamina. But nothing excited her more than seeing her handler getting ready to do a track. It was like a game to her. Maybe it could be called, “Find the bad guy!”
May 10, 2017, was like most days in May in Florida, hot and humid. Freckles didn’t care – she got to get out and play with her handler.
Eric Russell, who, as a youngster, chose a life a crime, and had stolen a truck from Coffee County, Alabama. An officer from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found the stolen truck abandoned in Okaloosa County. The prison was asked to assist in the search for Russell in the woods in North Okaloosa County, near the town of Laurel Hill. Freckles headed that way, tail wagging.
She was well-taken care of – Criminal Justice K9s are treated like royalty. When they arrived at the last place Russell was seen, Freckles was let out. She knew her job. She put her nose to work immediately.
But the excitement and the physical work involved in the track was too much for the old girl. Her handler took care not to push her too hard, but she gave out anyway. They don’t know if she simply overheated or had a heart attack, but Freckles never hunted again. She died that day.
Understandably, the manhunt for Russell intensified. He found a truck in Laurel Hill with the keys inside. He helped himself. But to no avail. At about 10 PM on Thursday, May 11, he was caught on a country road east of Laurel Hill, in neighboring Walton County. He faced felony and misdemeanor charges in three counties and two states. He spent the next five years in prison.
Rest easy, Freckles. Good girl.
