MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The northbound lanes of the Florida Turnpike were blocked in southwest Miami-Dade on Wednesday afternoon because of a crash involving a Miami-Dade K-9 officer.
Police said the crash happened shortly after 3:15 p.m. on the Turnpike near Southwest 216th Street.
According to investigators, the officer and an all-terrain crane were both going north on the Turnpike when they collided near Southwest 211th Street.
The impact caused the officer’s vehicle to roll over multiple times before it came to a stop on the highway.
The officer was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital as a trauma alert where he remains in critical but stable condition, and at last check was resting with his family.
The K-9 officer’s dog, whose name is Fox, was also taken away for treatment.
Fox only suffered minor injuries and is expected to be OK, authorities said.
Miami-Dade police said the officer is a K-9 narcotics detective who is a 17-year veteran of MDPD and that he was on-duty at the time of the crash.
No other injuries were reported.