A Brookhaven police officer and his dog were looking much better Tuesday as he told the tale of the yellow-jacket attack that sent them both to emergency care.
Officer John Ritch also revealed one of the ongoing questions of whether he or his partner was responsible for stirring up thousands of the relentless wasps that immediately covered them with stings.
They both released the stingers when they caused a a minor landslide when descending a rocky hill to handcuff a fugitive in a gully they had tracked down minutes before on Sept. 25.
“When the rocks broke loose it opened up a large cavern of yellow jackets,” said Ritch at a press conference. “I didn’t know I was getting stung because I was being stung so many times.”
Ritch, who received at least 80 stings, said the insects invaded his mouth and throat. He then looked over and saw yellow jackets covering “Canine Grizz,” his 9-year-old Belgian Malinois — already down in vegetation, covered with the wasps that were attacking his ears, eyes and mouth.
There were thousands of wasps enveloping them both, Ritch said. Fortunately DeKalb police officers arrived to take over the arrest of a man being sought for allegedly committing a hit-and-run accident on I-285.
That allowed Ritch and Grizz, still covered with yellow jackets, to flee for help.
“We had probably a 100-yard run,” Ritch said. “It was becoming very difficult to breathe simply from the blocked airways from all the yellow jackets in my mouth and nose.”
He said they were still being swarmed by thousands when they reached the other officers at which point Ritch said he started to blackout.
The police put him in the back of a patrol car for refuge — apparently the yellow jackets were primarily interested in him and Grizz, not other officers — while another canine officer took care of Grizz, Ritch said.
On Tuesday, it would have been hard to tell they had been in an attack. Ritch handled the press conference with aplomb and Grizz looked up at him, badge dangling from around his neck, and nary a hair out of place.
It was clear they were both glad to be back at work.
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