Puppy Tossed From Car During High Speed Police Chase Is On The Mend

It’s a “feel-good happy ending” story for one dog after he was tossed from a car during a high-speed police chase. “Taho”, a young Pit Bull, miraculously survived an ordeal that could have easily cost him his life.

Deputies with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office were in pursuit of a vehicle carrying suspects involved with carjackings and weapons in Arden Hills, Minnesota around 11pm on February 1st. The stolen truck was speeding over 60 mph the wrong way down an interstate when deputies noticed “a white object” was thrown from the vehicle.

The Sheriff’s Office shared on Facebook how they came to rescue Taho. The suspects, believed to have shot someone, refused to stop their vehicle during the chase.

“While deputies gave chase, the suspects attempted to carjack another victim, who had pulled over to the side of the road. A gun was displayed by the suspects in this attempted carjacking. This carjacking was thwarted as deputies, in their patrol vehicle with lights and siren activated, quickly caught up,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote.

“The suspects still refused to stop and started driving the wrong way on Interstate 694,” the Office’s post continued. “As deputies followed the suspects, the passenger’s side back door quickly opened. A deputy yelled, “Watch for a gun!” and quickly positioned themselves and their squad out of the line of fire. From the open door, the suspects threw something out of the stolen vehicle. A white object hit the freeway and rolled into the lanes of traffic.”

After successfully apprehending the suspects, the deputies reviewed their camera footage and discovered the white object had been a puppy!

Deputies returned to the spot on the highway but they couldn’t find the puppy in the dark. They returned in the morning with drones to search for Taho. They weren’t hopeful of finding the dog alive, because, not only had he been thrown out of a moving vehicle onto a busy road, but temperatures overnight had also dropped below zero.

So they were surprised and delighted to find “the Pit bull wagging his tail in a snow bank.” They found Taho 50 yards from where he had been thrown from the stolen vehicle.

“He was happy-go-lucky. We even got him up in the van and he was licking us,” Sgt. Dan Young of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office told WCCO. “Very, very happy. We gave him a piece of pizza.” They named the dog Taho after the Chevrolet Tahoes they drive.

Taho was whisked off to a veterinarian who treated him for a broken leg and lacerations. Thankfully, Taho didn’t sustain any life threatening injuries. Taho was not microchipped and had no other identification so he is currently being fostered with a county employee and a fundraiser has raised more than $20,000 to cover his medical bills.

Plans now are to find Tahoe a forever family. Young said in the interview, “We’ll do our best to get him to a nice, loving family where he can live out the rest of his days in luxury. Because he’s earned it. It’s a feel-good happy ending in a world where we don’t get those a lot.”