Wounded Police Dog Puts Bite on Armed Woman

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. — A wounded police dog that wrestled an armed woman to the ground kept police from shooting her, the dog’s trainer said Sunday.

The woman, Connie Hillman of Englewood, Colo., held officers at bay with a loaded handgun for more than 90 minutes Saturday before police sent Rondo, a trained German shepherd, into action.

Hillman, 31, shot at the dog, hitting him in the paw, but Rondo kept charging, said Cpl. Walt Clark, the dog’s owner and partner.

“We sent him on the attack. . . . She shot him half-way there, and I could tell he felt it by the way he was running, but he continued on and took her to the ground,” Clark said.

Dog Grabbed Arm

Rondo grabbed the woman’s left arm, near where she was holding the gun, between his teeth, Clark said.

Hillman, who had fired shots at pedestrians, was being held Sunday in the Arapahoe County Jail in lieu of $3,000 bond. She faces charges of felony menacing, reckless endangerment and cruelty to animals, officials said.

Rondo, a canine member of the Greenwood Village Police Department, was recuperating at home.

“The good thing about it was that we didn’t have to shoot (Hillman),” said Clark, who described Rondo as “the best partner I could have.”

Officers said they found the woman in a field, waving the gun and yelling incoherently.