Braintree Police Renew Calls For Bill Protecting K-9 Officers

BRAINTREE, MA — Police in Braintree and across Massachusetts called for the state Legislature to renew efforts to pass a bill allowing emergency medical professionals to treat police K-9s and take them by ambulance to an animal hospital.

The bill died of inaction last legislative session, but current and former police officers on Wednesday called for lawmakers to reconsider H 2547/S 1606, also known as "Nero's Law." The bill dates back to 2018, when Yarmouth Police Sgt. Sean Gannon, 32, was shot and killed, while serving a warrant with his K-9 partner Nero. Nero was also shot, and he survived his injuries, but wasn't allowed ambulance transport to a veterinary hospital because of existing state laws.

The bill has taken on new significance, following the death of Braintree police K-9 Kitt. Kitt died while protecting his handler from a man authorities said wounded two police officers in a shooting near the Braintree Village apartments.

Braintree Deputy Chief Timothy Cahoon told the Legislature's Joint Committee on Public Safety that police dogs make "incredible sacrifices" on behalf of their handlers and fellow police officers, State House News Service reported.

"If Kitt wasn't there that day, we would have lost three officers, most likely," Cahoon said. "It would have been a dramatically different outcome. Because he was there and because of his efforts, two officers were wounded, but they're going to be OK. They went home to their families."

Prior to the Wednesday's legislative session, Braintree Mayor Charles Kokoros and Police Chief Mark Dubois sent a joint letter to Joint Committee on Public Safety in support of Nero's Law.

"The current, and arguably outdated, state of the law fails to account for the invaluable service and sacrifice made by police canines during each deployment by prohibiting the administration of medical care if injured in the line of duty," the letter read. "Police canines spend their careers valiantly serving and protecting their handlers, fellow officers and the public, and it is time that the Commonwealth afford them the same level of care and protection provided to their brothers and sisters in law enforcement."

State House News Service reporting was used in this story.