They’ve been partners for nearly 6 years and gotten through several dangerous scrapes together so there was no way that Officer Joel Nitchman was going to leave his K9 partner out in a dangerous storm.
Officer Joel Nitchman ran into a tornado in Deer Park, Texas to rescue his police dog, Roni, from their patrol car on January 24, 2023.
In a now viral video, Nitchman is seen on a surveillance camera walking out of the police station in the middle of a tornado and heading to his van to get Roni out of the vehicle. With lightning flashing and debris flying he made his way to the van.
“I knew it was something bad when things were hitting my face. I knew it was debris of some kind. Once I went around the car, that’s when all heck broke loose. I could barely open his door. When I did, he’s a smart dog, he saw what was going on outside and he said I’m not coming out.”
But concerned that the vehicle might flip over, Nitchman managed to coax his “best buddy” out of the van. With zero visibility, Nitchman knew he had seconds to get them back inside.
Nitchman’s actions are being applauded, but he says he did what anyone would do. He told KHOU-11, “I love that dog. He’s my hip attachment almost every day of the week. He’s a part of our family. We can’t leave a loved one like that. There’s no way I was going to leave him like that.”
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