BY MARY BETH LANE For The Columbus Dispatch
The State Highway Patrol dispatched its special-response team this morning to help local authorities in southeastern Ohio find a man who stole a deputy sheriff’s SUV last night with his K-9 unit dog inside.
The Ford Expedition that was stolen from the deputy in Vinton County has been found, but the German shepherd is still missing this morning, authorities said.
The man eluded a deputy sheriff in Gallia County who was trying to capture him this morning by stabbing the dog that was working with that deputy, authorities said.
The chain of events began when the Vinton County deputy pulled the man over for a traffic stop. The man assaulted the deputy and then took off in the deputy’s vehicle, authorities said.
The suspect has been identified as Kelly Krebs.
The patrol’s special-response team is taking its own working dog to help in the manhunt, patrol spokesman Lt. Gary Lewis said this morning. The man was last seen in a wooded area on the Vinton and Meigs county line, he said.
State troopers are guarding the search perimeter that authorities are establishing this morning, Lewis said.
I hope the dog is all right and I pray he will be found!!