K9 Diesel – St. Louis County, Minnesota

Died 10/20/20
Handler – Deputy Ben Fye

St. Louis County Sheriff’s K-9 Diesel Passes

We are grieving deeply, and reeling a bit, too. This morning, for the second time in a week, we had to say goodbye to a hero – St. Louis County Sheriff’s K-9 Diesel. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with his partner, Deputy Fye, who calls K-9 Diesel a “great partner, companion, and a huge part of what made me the K-9 Deputy that I have become.” While K-9 Diesel’s retirement had never been officially announced, he has been off duty for several months due to a degenerative spinal issue. He’d had several surgeries, and was doing well – until this weekend when he suddenly lost function in his rear legs. Advice from the vet following an MRI was that additional surgery had minimal chance for success, and so the difficult decision was made to end Diesel’s suffering. K-9 Diesel was just shy of his 8th birthday and had worked for the SLC Sheriff’s Office since 2014. In their too short time together, Diesel and Deputy Fye were a tremendously successful team. K-9 Diesel was deployed more than 300 times and had many notable apprehensions, including a man who’d been firing a semi-automatic rifle in a Proctor neighborhood, a drug dealer armed with a large knife, and a man who’d broken into a couple’s home and held them at gun point. K-9 Diesel forever holds a special piece of our hearts here at the Foundation as he was one of the first K-9s we helped fund in our first year. He was a favorite at our Operation K-9 events whether demonstrating agility moves or being featured in grand finale demonstrations (remember the year he and Deputy Fye jumped out of a helicopter?) If ever there was a doubt about the bond among handlers and the respect they have for their K-9 partners, it was rewarding to see how many fellow handlers and officers gathered today to bid farewell to K-9 Diesel with a final salute.Thank you, Diesel, for your many years of service. You made our community safer and protected your handler multiple times. You have set the bar high for other K-9s, and we will never forget you.

Submitted By Jim Cortina

James A. Cortina has been involved with police dogs since 1972 and currently on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Jim has been appointed as Treasurer since its inception in 1991. Jim is one of the charter members of the C.P.W.D.A. organization. Since 1975 he has been a certified professional dog trainer and received his Master Trainer Certification in 1985. During his career he has provided armed K-9 strike crowd control for security agencies in Connecticut and out of state security companies. In conjunction with other members of the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Board of Directors, he helped to draft Connecticut Statute 53-247(e) "Intentional Injury or Killing of Police K-9" which was passed by the Senate in 1993 and also assisted in implementing the prestigious Daniel Wasson Memorial K-9 Award in 1992. In 1993 he helped coordinate the North American Police Work Dog Association Nationals in New London, Connecticut. He was appointed Training Director for the New London County Work Dog Association from 1985-1987. He performed decoy work for Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. in police K-9 demonstrations, trained several local police department canines, and coordinated training workshops for out-of-state police departments. He participated in the United States Police K-9 Association Trials in Croton on Hudson, New York in 1985 as a decoy. He is an avid photographer and received photography awards in 1989, 1990, and 1991 and currently takes photographs for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc.