Hearts in Houston have been mournfully tugged in the past several days as we’ve followed the painful demise of Rony, an HPD K-9 officer who was so severely injured in the line of duty chasing down a suspect that he had to be put down after seven years of duty and 250 apprehensions. HPDC Police Chief Art Acevedo says Rony died what he loved doing most.
Houston’s 100 Club is marking his passing by introducing a policy shift. The 100 Club has 32,000 members whose donations provide financial support to the dependents of law enforcement officers and firefights called or catastrophically injured in the line of duty.
And now special dogs.
While HPD officers gathered privately to honor one of their own the 100 Club pledged to replace service club animals like Rony. 100 Club Executive Director William Skeen tells KTRH News the pledge will cover animals in the non-profit organization’s 32-county overage area and includes various Texas agencies including the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks & Wildlife and several others.
Their goal is to cover the replacement costs of future heroes.