By Adam Foxman for Ventura County Star

VENTURA, Calif. — Veteran of crime scenes and classrooms with power, long hair that earned him the nickname ‘lightning dust mop’ and a playful disposition, Sonny was a beloved member of the Ventura Police Department when he was fatally shot in 1984 while chasing a wanted parolee.

The 6-year-old German shepherd’s death was the catalyst for a 1985 amendment to California law that made it a felony to kill a police animal, and this week he will be honored during a memorial for law enforcement dogs at UC Davis in Northern California, officials said.

Sonny’s name will be among five added to the Faithful Partner monument at the university’s School of Veterinary Medicine Wednesday during a memorial ceremony for police dogs killed in the line of duty, according to a statement from the Western States Police Canine Association. Those names will join plaques honoring 34 other police dogs killed in California since 1960, according to the canine association, which sponsors the memorial.

Erected in 2002 with donated funds, the monument is a black granite star topped by a bronze, life-size German shepherd, according to the canine association.

The ceremony will include an honor guard, pipers, a motorcade and a procession of more than 60 police and sheriff’s K-9 teams, according to the canine association.

Sonny’s partner, Vern Alstot, and all four officer and dog teams from the Ventura police K-9 unit were among those who traveled to Davis to attend the ceremony.

Then a Ventura police officer, Alstot had been Sonny’s partner for three years when the canine was shot on Aug. 26, 1984.

Alstot and two other police were chasing a wanted parolee who had kidnapped his girlfriend when Sonny was sent to apprehend the suspect. The man drew a gun and fired twice, fatally wounding the 60-pound police dog.

The suspect later pleaded guilty and served six months of a one-year sentence, according to the canine association. Harming a police dog was a misdemeanor at the time, and outrage about the incident led lawmakers to change it to a felony, said Alstot.

Sonny’s death deeply affected Alstot, leading him to consider public safety jobs further from violence, he said. Alstot joined the Ventura Fire Department in 1985 and served there until his retirement in late 2009.

Together constantly at work and home, K-9 handlers and their four legged partners have a special relationship that goes far beyond master and pet, Alstot said.

“He is almost your alter ego,” Alstot said. “I can’t think of a more lonesome time that I felt in my police career then when I went back to duty in a police car without a dog.”

K-9s also protect officers in a way humans can’t, Alstot said, adding that Sonny once kept him from being shot.

Alstot and Sonny were patrolling midtown Ventura about 2 a.m. one day in 1983 when Sonny perked up, alerting the officer to two men carrying items down the street in the dark, Alstot recalled. He arrested the men with Sonny’s help, and later learned the suspects had just robbed two women. One of the victims had been sexually assaulted.

During a later interview, one of the suspects told police they would have shot the officer, but they were afraid the police dog would kill them, Alstot said.

“Sonny made a huge difference in my outcome,” he said.

Read more: Ventura police dog to be honored
- vcstar.com