LAPD Officers saved the life of a badly injured Pit Bull after he had been struck by a car and left for dead. Officers Hererra, Lancaster and Cohen were heading back to the LAPD Southeast Division on January 10 when they noticed the brown Pit Bull lying on the sidewalk.

They noticed his ribs were sticking out and assumed he was malnourished and needed food and water, so they drove to a nearby taco stand to get him a plate of meat and water. When they came back they noticed he had not moved, and when they tried to give him water he cried. That's when they notice his left leg was very swollen.

Residents approached the officers and told them he was hit by a car and been lying there for over 5 hours. They had assumed he was dead. The three officers knew they had to help the injured dog and decided to name their new friend "Philly" after their Sergeant. Although he could barely move, as soon as he heard his new name Philly wagged his tail knowing the officers were going to help him.

The officers put him in the car and rushed him to the ER at Advanced Veterinary Care Center where they were told his front leg would need immediate surgery to be repaired as it was badly broken. The officers told the veterinarian they would do "whatever necessary to save him and that he deserves a better life". She agreed and they worked together to help save Philly.

The dog turned out to be microchipped. At first, the officers thought this would be great news for the dog's owners. The officers wrote on the Rescue Philly Facebook page:

"We were excited to hear that he actually belonged to someone and they could be searching for him as we speak. We were mistaken! We found the owner and went to their house in person. We let the owner know about Philly, where we found him and the extent of his injuries. We let them know that he needed to have emergency surgery ASAP. The owner responded with "put him to sleep, we don't want to fix him." Excuse me! Repeat that! No way! No how! We had them sign over their rights to Philly on the spot."

As Philly's new foster parents, the officers called the vet and told her to proceed with Philly's medical care. They all agreed there was no way they could turn their back now on "such a great dog".

Philly underwent surgery and had to get an artificial elbow implant. The surgeons also noticed he had foreign objects in his stomach and removed large plastic pieces and junk from his tummy. Since out of surgery, Philly is slowly recovering. His foster moms say he is a “strong boy” and his tail wags like crazy every time they visit. Here's a video of a visit to Philly at the hospital. Listen closely for the wagging of his tail.

Philly's medical bill has reached an estimated to be around $10,000. The officers are currently raising money to cover his medical costs.

If you would like to help these officers pay for Philly's care, please make a donation:

• Online: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=AC7PM5BPW96KE
• By Mail:
  LAPD Southeast Jeopardy
  Attn: Philly
  145 W. 108th St.
  Los Angeles, CA 90061
  ***Please make checks payable to the "Rescuing Philly Phoundation"

Please mention Philly in all correspondence.

You can also visit the Rescue Philly Facebook page for more details.

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• Police officer rescues puppies abandoned in box
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• Trapped puppy adopted by police officer who rescued him 
• Heroic police save elderly Golden Retriever from freezing in icy pond

• Pit Bull
• LAPD
• police
• Los Angeles
• California