By Eric Conklin
nj.com
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — An Atlantic City police officer rescued an injured stray dog earlier this month by swimming into a bay channel after the animal fled from authorities, officials said.
Police responded to the city’s Venice Park neighborhood around 12:51 p.m. Oct. 15 after the dog was seen abandoned in a vacant lot at Murray and West Riverside avenues, according to an incident report.
An animal control officer at the scene secured a bite pole around the dog, but the animal fled through the neighborhood after the officer lost their grip, police said.
A short time later, the dog was cornered in another lot near the bay and jumped into the water near a dock.
Officer Matt Schmidt, one of the first to respond, summoned a rescue boat to try to catch the dog, which had already swum several yards from shore.
Fearing for the dog’s safety, Schmidt removed his uniform and jumped into the bay, swimming to the animal and helping it back to land.
“He’s a very, very bad boy,” Schmidt can be heard saying in body camera footage released by police.
Drone footage shows the officer swimming to the dog, which had drifted about 100 yards from shore. Schmidt used a spare bite pole to guide the dog back to land, police said.
Body camera footage also shows that before the water rescue, Schmidt and the animal control officer had encountered the dog in the vacant lot and noticed an injury to its leg.
After running along a fence, the dog dashed past the officer, who managed to secure the pole before the animal escaped.
Schmidt and the officer searched the neighborhood by car and eventually found the dog swimming behind a house.
Footage shows Schmidt walking onto a dock, leaning against a boat as he removed his uniform, then lowering himself into the water and swimming toward the animal.
Once back on land, the dog was led away by other officers.
The dog was later reported to be in “relatively good health” and was no longer limping, police said. It was taken to the Atlantic County Animal Shelter.
As of the time of the report, no one had claimed ownership.
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