12-14-06: Officer Down by Dave Garner. In late 2006 two cousins plagued the Baltimore area with brazen early morning robberies of large grocery stores. Police always seemed to be one step behind. As the robberies became more frequent, they also got more violent.

On a very foggy December 14th 2006 they hit again. This time it was a store being staked out by under-cover detectives. After a brief foot chase the armed suspects eluded the detectives and disappeared into the fog and cover of a residential neighborhood.

Cpl. Garner and his K-9 “Nikko”, were called to track the suspects. When the fog cleared, one suspect was in custody, one suspect was dead and Cpl. Garner was fighting for his life after being shot twice in a hail of gunfire.

Cpl. Garner has been a police officer in the Baltimore County Police Department for 18 years, assigned to the K-9 division for 14 of those years. He has trained and handled patrol, narcotics, explosive/gun, search & rescue and SWAT trained dogs. Before joining the tactical team in June of 2007, Cpl. Garner was the trainer for the department’s K-9 unit with 20+ dog teams. He is now permanently assigned to the Baltimore County SWAT team with his K-9 partner “Nikko”.

Cpl. Garner lives in the area that he works, near Baltimore, with his wife and two daughters.