This is the story of how a goldendoodle abandoned at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas found a new name, JetBlue, and a new home with one of the officers who handled his case.
It began on Feb. 2, when the dog’s owner, identified in arrest papers as Germirah Hobbs, of Virginia, went to check in for her flight when a JetBlue employee informed her she didn’t have the right paperwork to fly with the 2-year-old dog.
Ms. Hobbs was late for her flight and said to the employee: “Call animal control. I’m not going to miss my flight,” the employee told the authorities. She also told the employee the dog was a service animal, but the police later determined it had no such registration.
So, Ms. Hobbs tied her curly-haired dog to the ticket counter and left, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a social media post.
Body camera footage posted on Facebook by the Police Department shows officers confronting Ms. Hobbs at her check-in gate.
When an officer, who is not identified, confronts her about the dog, Ms. Hobbs says she was trying to rebook her flight. She confirms that she left her dog behind and tells the officer that an airline employee had told her to do so.
Officers told her she would be issued a citation and started to escort her back to the ticket counter when she “became disruptive” and refused to follow officers’ directions, according to the police report.
After being handcuffed after a scuffle, Ms. Hobbs “dropped her body weight and refused to walk under her own power,” according to the police report. Officers had to carry her at one point.
She was charged with animal abandonment, obstructing a public officer and resisting arrest. Ms. Hobbs could not be reached on Thursday, and it was not clear if she had a lawyer.
Animal protective services took care of the dog. After 10 days passed without Ms. Hobbs’ returning for him, the dog was released to Retriever Rescue of Las Vegas, the police said.
The rescue gave him a new name, JetBlue, according to the group, and he was taken on a shopping spree at a local pet store to pick out toys for his new home, according to a social media post from the rescue and Dog Supplies Outlet Las Vegas. Zignature donated a year’s supply of food for the dog, according to the pet store.
The rescue said it received many applications for JetBlue, calling him “a sweet boy.” But his adopter was an officer who had been looking for a goldendoodle — just like the one at the airport that day.
The officer, Skeeter Black, and his family had been looking for a dog from Retriever Rescue since September, according to a social media post from the police posted on Sunday.
The Police Department has been keen to follow the pup’s journey. “Bon voyage, JetBlue and welcome to a new life where you’ll be loved beyond words by Officer Black and his family,” the police said in the post.
Rylee Kirk reports on breaking news, trending topics and major developing stories for The Times.
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