Connellsville community line city streets for K9 Ambroos’s last ride

CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. — Connellsville community members lined city streets Saturday morning to say goodbye to the police department’s K9.

K9 Ambroos has been battling cancer for the last couple of months and officially retired from the force on Monday.

Connellsville Mayor Greg Lincoln says they hoped Ambroos had a couple more months in him, but the cancer had progressed throughout his body, and his quality of life had gone down. So, Ambroos’s partner Cpl. Tyler Garlick and veterinary staff made the difficult decision to put him to rest.

“It was not an easy decision, but it’s the right decision to make sure he’s no longer suffering,” Lincoln said.

Lincoln appreciated the community coming out for Ambroos’s last ride, especially because of how much he did for the police department.

“It’s a sad day, somber day, for us because Ambroos has been a wonderful addition to our police department here in Connellsville,” Lincoln said. “For the last six years, he’s been a wonderful deterrent for crime here, and he’s removed a lot of illegal drugs from our streets, captured a lot of wanted suspects with his tracking ability, and we’re just gonna be really sad to see him go.”

Ambroos was Connellsville’s first K9 after decades. Lincoln credits Cpl. Garlick for bringing back the K9 unit and getting Ambroos, who was purchased through a grant from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation, trained and into the rotation. Community support quickly followed.

“This community has braced our K9. It’s amazing the support that they have given to our K9 unit through fundraising... if you look around town, everybody has one of his sweatshirts or t-shirts on, and it’s been very honorable to see how much support Tyler has been getting through the years of being our K9 officer,” Lincoln said.

At the end of Ambroos’s final ride, Fayette County dispatchers aired a last call thanking the beloved K9 officer for his service. You can hear the farewell in the below video.

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