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Mesa Police Officer and K-9 Handler, John Lafontaine, has been with the
Mesa Police Department for approximately 13 years. He has been with the
Mesa Police Department's K-9 Unit for over 6 years. Officer Lafontaine
and his K-9 partner, Leon, a 3 year old Belgian Malinois originally from
the Netherlands and acquired by the K-9 Unit in January of 2006 from
Adlerhorst Kennels, located in Riverside, California, completed the
Basic Handlers Course at the Mesa
Police K-9 Unit's training facility. K-9 Leon and his handler were then
certified by the National Police Canine Association and ready to patrol
the streets of Mesa, in addition to assisting various units of the department such as
the Patrol and SWAT divisions when called upon, as well as assisting other police departments in the area when requested.
On
April 8th & 9th of 2006, Officer Lafontaine and K-9 Leon,
participated in several events at the 4th Annual Desert Dog Police K-9
Trials, held at Mesa's Hohokam Stadium that year. The K-9 Team helped the K-9 Unit win 6th Place for Top Agency in
the Patrol Category. Quite an accomplishment for a team who only began
working the streets just a short time before the K-9 Trials. 2006 was
also the first year for the "Tough Dog" competition, which was held at the
conclusion of the K-9 Trials. Only the ten best hard hitting dogs were chosen by the Agitators to participate in the event, with K-9 Leon being
one of the chosen ten.
In
the afternoon of
August 18th, 2006, Officer Lafontaine and K-9 Leon, made national
headlines. Off duty at the time and resting at home, Officer Lafontaine
and K-9 Leon were called upon to assist with the apprehension of a
suspect who was in a standoff with Mesa Police Officers on the 60
Freeway, with a box over his hand, giving the appearance that he could
possibly be holding some sort of a weapon. Officers on the scene
exercised great care and restraint so as not to escalate the situation,
especially since
there was a 3 month old infant in the suspect's vehicle, where the interior
temperature was rising due to afternoon summertime temperatures
exceeding 110 degrees. The suspect, originally stopped in another
location in Mesa for expired tags and fearing arrest for two outstanding
felony warrants,
sped off in his vehicle before the officer could take him into custody.
The suspect was kept under surveillance by one of the Mesa Police
Department's Helicopter Air Units, with police vehicles falling back so
as not to endanger the public or the occupants of the vehicle. The
suspect stopped on the 60 Freeway, pushing an adult female passenger
from the vehicle and continued westbound until wrecking his vehicle and
thus disabling it. The 350 pound male suspect was then given numerous chances to
surrender. Having failed to do so and with the officers on the scene realizing that the infant in the
vehicle could be in distress, K-9 Leon was deployed on the suspect. K-9
Leon grabbed the suspect's left arm and held on while the suspect lifted
K-9 Leon up off the ground and swung him around in the air from side to
side. While K-9 Leon was attempting to bring the suspect down, other
officers were busy making entry through the right rear passenger door of
the disabled vehicle, to rescue the infant who was face down and in
respiratory distress. Never releasing his hold on the suspect's arm at anytime until
his handler gave the release command, K-9 Leon brought the suspect down
on top of himself, with the suspect partly landing in the driver's seat
of the disabled vehicle and K-9 Leon disappearing from view as the
overhead TV News Helicopters captured the event as it unfolded on live
television. The infant was rushed to the hospital and made a full
recovery. The suspect was taken into custody, transported to a hospital
for treatment of his injuries and later booked at the
Maricopa County Jail, where he is currently awaiting trial on multiple charges. As for K-9 Leon,
people from the community were so
concerned for his health and safety that after witnessing what had happened
on live TV and later on in the day on the evening news, they
began calling the Mesa Police Department to express their concern for K-9 Leon
and wanted to know if he was injured and how he was doing. Officer Lafontaine and K-9 Leon granted television and newspaper interviews a
few days later, to show all the concerned citizens that K-9 Leon was
doing just fine and came out of the incident unscathed. K-9
Leon and Officer
LaFontaine were later awarded the National Deployment of the Year
Award for this freeway hostage incident, by the National
Police Canine Association.
In
the early morning hours of November 2nd, 2006, a year long rash of ATM
thefts in the east valley came to an end. Officer Lafontaine and K-9
Leon responded to a request for assistance call by the patrol division,
who was setting up a perimeter to locate suspects who had fled on foot
from a vehicle that was spotted by a Mesa Patrol Officer, in the vicinity of Signal Butte and Madero
roads. The suspect vehicle was towing
a trailer containing a bank Automatic Teller Machine (ATM), just stolen
from the M&I Thunderbird Bank branch, located on Baseline and Crimson
roads, triggering an automated panic call by the bank to the Mesa Police
Department. The suspects had used a stolen fork lift from a nearby
construction site to remove the ATM, which was then loaded onto a stolen
trailer being towed by a vehicle belonging to one of the suspects. Officers were able to locate one of the suspects hiding between two air
conditioners. After the suspect refused numerous requests to comply with
orders by the Police, K-9 Leon was deployed by his handler to flush the
suspect out into the open. After the suspect attempted to fight with K-9
Leon, he was subdued and taken into Police custody, then transported to
a local hospital for treatment of his injuries. Detectives were able to
locate the second suspect who was also taken into custody.
On
March 20th, 2007, at approximately 22:15 hours, Officer Lafontaine
detained a suspicious person on a bike in the K-Mart Parking Lot,
located on the northwest corner of Lindsay Road and Main Street, in
Mesa. Upon learning that the 19 year old detained subject was wanted on
outstanding warrants for burglary and a probation violation, Officer Lafontaine attempted to take the suspect into custody with the suspect
resisting arrest. The suspect assaulted Officer Lafontaine by
throwing his bicycle at him, then proceeded to run south in the parking
lot towards Main Street. Officer Lafontaine then deployed K-9 Leon to
apprehend the fleeing suspect, who continued to run south through the
parking lot and then proceeded to cross the street. K-9 Leon continued
on in pursuit of the suspect and as he ran south across Main Street, he
was struck by a car. Officer Lafontaine rushed over to his K-9 partner,
placed him in his vehicle and proceeded to rush him to the veterinarian
hospital, where K-9 Leon was pronounced dead on arrival. The suspect was
later apprehended by Mesa Police Officers. In addition to being booked
on the outstanding warrants, the suspect was also
booked on suspicion of aggravated assault,
resisting arrest and false reporting.
K-9 Leon is remembered
not only for his courageousness and his agility, but also for his
playful spirit. He is missed by his handler and his family, whom he
resided with when he wasn't on duty, members of the Mesa K-9 Unit and by
members of the Mesa Police Department.
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