Last week, the City of Tukwila made a video to announce its annual Employees Awards - and its newest canine staff member stole the show.
Every year, Mayor Allan Ekberg gives a special Mayor's Award to a city employee. This year, he asked for Tukwila Police Department's newest K-9 officer Apollo to co-present the announcement - and hilarity ensued.
It took several tries to get the footage they needed of the mayor and hyper Apollo. The city posted the funny outtakes on their Facebook page.
Apollo the pit bull joined the force last year as their new narcotics K-9 officer. Apollo had been found abandoned and was sent to a shelter as a pup. After being at the shelter for six months, staff members determined he wouldn't be a good candidate for adoption due to his high energy. To avoid euthanizing him, shelter staff reached out to a state narcotics K-9 trainer to see if he'd qualify for police work.
He was passed over several times for an entire year. But once Tukwila police heard his story, they decided to give him a chance.
In the end, Apollo finished narcotics school first in his class. He was credited with helping to seize $355,000 in cash and 30 lbs. of narcotics by mid-2017. And he's now part of his handler's personal family and the Tukwila Police Department.
"He has brought great joy to all of us at the department in addition to being a very productive and hard worker," said Tukwila police.
