By R. Joseph Gelarden Staff Writer
January 01, 2001, Monday, City Final Edition
Copyright 2001 The Indianapolis Star
The Indianapolis Star
January 01, 2001, Monday, City Final Edition
(GREENFIELD, Ind.) -- Patricia Buesking put on a black dress and her sensible black shoes.
The 67-year-old widow touched up her makeup and hair, then went to a memorial service Saturday, joining other mourners in prayer for a slain friend.
“He was more than a friend. He was someone special, a protector,” she said.
He was a dog -- a trained police attack dog named Fluer , who was shot to death while chasing a burglar early Friday morning.
Buesking said she likes to help police officers and firefighters. For her, helping out means purchasing special equipment that is not in the departments’ budgets.
“I helped them buy bulletproof vests for Fluer and other dogs and bought them some defibrillators,” she said.
When she learned of Fluer’s death, she told the police not to worry about the $4,000 to $5,000 it will cost to replace the highly trained canine.
She insisted she will pay the bill.
“Can you think of anything better than to help your own community?” she asked.
“It’s the least I can do.”
So, it wasn’t surprising that Buesking joined 50 others, including Greenfield police and other officers from as far away as Terre Haute and Columbus, for Fluer’s memorial service at the Boys and Girls Club.
Fluer’s death came after the dog and his handler, Greenfield Patrolman Toby Holliday, were searching a factory building for some burglars.
Fluer was following their scent, which stopped at a steel door.
As Fluer was trained to do, he threw his body against the door, and the door popped open. There in the shadows loomed an unidentified figure, and Fluer attacked. After all, that also was what the male canine was trained to do.
But this time, the shadowy figure wore a uniform. It was Sgt. Brian Bray.
Fluer lunged at Bray, knocked him down and clamped his powerful jaws onto the officer’s upper left thigh, his teeth ripping through the uniform and flesh of the surprised policeman. The dog began to shake his head, ripping Bray’s flesh and pulling him down a hill.
Fearing for his life, Bray pulled out his pistol and fired a shot, killing the animal.
“It was all he could do. He could have lost a leg,” said Police Chief Clark Mercer, a retired State Police officer.
Ironically, Fluer had solved the burglary.
Before searching the building, Fluer had found some objects the burglars had dropped. Among them was a camcorder that had been stolen during an earlier burglary at the factory. Captured by the camcorder were video images of three teen-agers.
When police officers identified the three teen-agers, they were able to link the youths to two other juveniles. All five youths were arrested and charged with the burglary, Mercer said.
Fluer, which in Dutch means “flower,” was a Dutch shepherd. While he was owned by the Greenfield Police Department, Mercer said, the department considered Fluer a full member and good friend.
The Police Department also considers Buesking, the widow of Edward Buesking, a retired Elanco vice president who died in 1995, a good friend.
Her husband had cardiac arrest at the couple’s farm, which had been in his family since 1874. Hancock County Sheriff’s Department officers arrived first, and “they were so good to us,” she recalled.
Afterward, she said, she began befriending police officers and firefighters in the area.
Contact R. Joseph Gelarden at (317) 272-4404 or via e-mail at joseph.gelarden@starnews.com