The man accused of fatally stabbing a Vancouver police dog pleaded guilty Friday and was sentenced to more than four years in prison.
Jacky Chan Karuo, 25, of Vancouver pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to first-degree malicious mischief with a deadly weapon, harming a police dog, first-degree criminal impersonation and resisting arrest. He also pleaded guilty in a separate case to possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
As part of a plea deal, Karuo agreed to a sentence that was more than twice the amount of the standard range. The deadly weapons enhancement also contributed to the longer-than-normal sentence.
The lengthy sentence was negotiated in part because of the violent nature of the crime and because Karuo had been released from jail shortly before he committed new crimes, Deputy Prosecutor James Smith said. Karuo had no prior felony criminal history.
“I want to say my sincere apologies to the state of Washington,” Karuo told the court. “I’m sorry for what I did.”
According to a probable cause affidavit, Vancouver police encountered Karuo near Fruit Valley and LaFrambois roads on Sept. 1 and learned that he had a warrant out for his arrest.
Karuo ran from officers, and Vancouver police K-9 Ike was deployed. Ike bit Karuo on the leg, and the man turned around and stabbed the dog multiple times in the head, neck and body, court records said. Ike’s handler, Officer Jack Anderson, ordered Karuo to stop and shocked him with a stun gun before taking him into custody.
Ike was taken to DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital in Portland, where he underwent surgery for his stab wounds. However, he went into cardiac arrest and suffered systemic organ failure. Anderson had the dog euthanized early the next morning.
During Karuo’s hearing, Smith said that Ike suffered at least seven stab wounds, five of which were quite severe. Karuo made the choice, Smith said, to stab Ike to avoid being detained. “He chose to resist in a violent manner,” he said.
Anderson was present for Karuo’s hearing but declined to make a statement to the court.
Karuo’s defense attorney, Gregg Schile, said his client made a mistake and that a lot of thought went into reaching the plea agreement. However, he argued that he thinks the law for harming a police dog needs to be amended.
He said in an interview after the hearing that the statute is inadequate for situations, such as Karuo’s, in which a police dog is killed. “It’s like a round hole for a square peg,” he said.
Judge David Gregerson said he agrees that significant violence was used during the incident. He agreed to follow the attorneys’ sentencing recommendation of 50 months in prison between the two cases.
“A K-9 officer gave his life for the cause. It could have been a lot worse,” Gregerson said, adding that a person could have been killed.
Karuo was given credit for 192 days in custody. He will have a year of probation after his release.
