# "Basko" Redondo Beach



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Memorial Service Held For Cocaine Ingesting Florida Police Dog

A memorial service will be held today for a Redondo Beach police dog who died after biting into a bag of cocaine that was supposed to have been puncture-proof during a training session in Temecula. The service, scheduled for 5 p.m. today at the Redondo Police Department, will feature a video tribute to Basko and recollections from officers, police said.The department's other police dogs and their handlers will attend. Basko and his handler, Officer Ken Greenleaf, were at an annual certification day event in Temecula with about 35 other dogs when the 5-year- old German found the illegal substance under a refrigerator during a training exercise designed to sharpen sniffing skills. He bit into the bag, which was to have been puncture-proof, and went into convulsions 30 minutes later. Greenleaf rushed him to an animal hospital, but Basko died of heart failure. Basko, whose name is a combination of Greenleaf's two previous police dogs, Boris and Asko, served alongside with Greenleaf and shared his home for four years. "I miss him badly. He was young, but he was about as perfect as a police dog can be," Greenleaf told the Los Angeles Times.


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