Dirty Harry’s last ride
By Bobby Bryant, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
The officer was “always the first to be called upon,” police say.
He was credited with helping authorities make “the largest seizures of illicit drugs in Darlington County.”
He was honorably retired from the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office.
He was given a police escort out of Hartsville on Friday morning on his way to be cremated after his death last week.
His name was Harry, sometimes Dirty Harry, and he was a K9 police dog.
He lived with his former handler, Hartsville Police Sgt. Kyle Hause, so it fell to the Hartsville Police Department to announce Harry’s death Friday on the department’s Facebook page.
“We are sad to report the loss of retired police dog Harry, who passed away overnight,” the department said.
“Harry was not only the lead K9, but the most respected K9 in the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office K9 unit,” the department wrote. “Harry left the most memorable impressions with everyone he came in contact with. He was truly loved. His legacy will live on forever, and he will be greatly missed.”
“Dirty Harry was 12 years old at the time of his passing,” the department said.
Hause could not be immediately reached for comment, but according to the Hartsville police, Harry’s resume goes something like this:
The dog began working for the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office in 2009 and was assigned to the Special Enforcement Unit with Hause, who at that time worked for the Sheriff’s Office. Harry’s main jobs were finding narcotics and detaining suspects. The dog “often worked Interstate 20,” Hartsville police said.
Hartsville police said Harry “was responsible for the largest seizures of illicit drugs in Darlington County during his career,” although it wasn’t immediately clear when those cases took place.
“Harry protected his handler on more than one occasion,” Hartsville police said, adding that the dog won two awards from the S.C. Sheriffs’ Association during his time with the Sheriff’s Office.
Harry was retired in 2016, according to the Hartsville department, and went to live with Hause, who now works for the Hartsville city police. Hartsville officers honored Harry with a police escort out of town as Hause took Harry to Columbia for cremation Friday. The escort was put together on short notice, police said; there was no time to announce it in advance so residents could watch for it.
