MORGAN HILL
– A Morgan Hill man and his canine partner assisted in the
capture of a man police say kidnapped and sexually abused a
9-year-old girl.
MORGAN HILL – A Morgan Hill man and his canine partner assisted in the capture of a man police say kidnapped and sexually abused a 9-year-old girl.
San Jose Police Officer Rick Foster and his K-9 officer dog, Vin, both of whom live in town, received a call at about 4 a.m. Monday, geared up and went to the San Jose house where police believed the suspect in the kidnapping of 9-year-old Jennette Tamayo was hiding.
As Foster related the story to his friend Jo-Ann Cuevas, he lifted Vin up so he could investigate a hole police cut in the ceiling.
“Vin could see the suspect and was ‘barking and holding,’ ” she said. “They warned the guy to come out on his own but he wouldn’t, so Rick issued the command and sent Vin to bite the guy.”
That man is David Cruz, who police say kidnapped 9-year-old Jennette Tamayo from her south San Jose home Friday and sexually abused her before she escaped from him and found help Sunday.
“Vin bit the suspect, and there was a bit of a scuffle,” Cuevas said. Foster, she said, accompanied the suspect to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center for treatment.
The search- and attack-trained, 7-year-old dog, who was trained in Germany for discipline, is from a long line of police dogs, Cuevas said.
“He knows exactly what he’s doing,” she said. “He has 10 legitimate bites under his collar – bites in the line of duty.”
Cuevas said Vin is a great pet when off-duty and is good with children and adults.
Foster, the other half of the team, has been with the San Jose Police since 1998.
The arrest came at the end of three frantic days of police activity where police all over the Bay Area searched for the girl.
Staff Writer Marilyn Dubil contributed to this story.
