Police dog killed in suspect's jump

OCEANSIDE, Calif., Jan. 2 (UPI) -- An Oceanside, Calif., police dog was killed in the line of duty when a suspect grabbed the dog and took a 200-foot fall into the San Diego Bay, police said.

Police said Stryker, a Belgian Malinois, had knocked a drunken driving suspect to the ground on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge when the suspect picked up the 75-pound animal and jumped over the concrete barricade, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Wednesday.

A California Highway Patrol spokeswoman said the suspect survived the 200-foot drop into the bay and was hospitalized at the University of California San Diego Medical Center with a collapsed lung. The suspect and the police dog's body were fished out of the bay by a Harbor Patrol boat.

The spokeswoman said the man is suspected of causing the death of a police dog, evading arrest and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Officer Greg Rainwater, who trained the dog in 2003, said Stryker's death has been hard on his handler, Officer Kedrick Sadler, who sent the dog after the suspect.

"You spend more time with the dog than you do your family," Rainwater told the Union-Tribune. "Every day you're with that dog, the bond gets stronger."