K9 'Orry' Helps Rescue Massachusetts Woman Who Fled Ambulance into Woods

A Massachusetts State Police K9 named Orry assisted in the rescue of a young woman who fled an ambulance on her way to a hospital and gave herself self-inflicted injuries, police say.

On October 26 at 11:27 a.m., an “emotionally troubled” young woman was being transported by EMS to a Massachusetts hospital when she fled her ambulance on an on-ramp connecting Route 9 to 495, Massachusetts State Police say. She then ran up the ramp onto 495 southbound in Westborough, Massachusetts, as drivers witnessed her running across the median before she jumped down onto Route 9 westbound, according to police.

At that point, Massachusetts State Police deployed a K9 unit along with local law enforcement to find the woman, police stated in a press release. The teams began to search for the woman in the wooded areas along the highway.

Massachusetts State Police Trooper Ken Hanchett and his partner, K9 Orry, began searching for a scent at the on-ramp where the women exited the ambulance and then along the woodline of 495. Police say after several minutes of looking for a sign of the woman on 495, “Orry showed a change in behavior and pulled toward the highway, wanting to cross it.”

Law enforcement briefly stopped highway traffic so Trooper Hanchett and Orry could safely cross. Soon after 12:00 p.m., the K9 pulled his handler down an embankment and located the woman in the woods, the Massachusetts State Police said. “She had inflicted life-threatening lacerations to herself in the time since she had fled from the ambulance, apparently with pieces of glass from a broken bottle she found in the woods,” authorities said.

Hanchett tied up his K9 and administered medical aid to the woman while notifying his troop’s headquarters he had located her and telling an ambulance to hurry to the scene, according to the New Bedford Guide.  Hanchett directed the ambulance to the location, and with the assistance of other officers, he was able to help the woman out of the woods.

Police escorted an ambulance that transferred the woman to Umass Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was conscious during the drive and is expected to survive, according to authorities.

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