{"id":388472,"date":"2026-07-06T22:48:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T22:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/388472\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T22:48:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T22:48:24","slug":"k-9-killed-in-hit-and-run-after-he-was-spooked-by-illegal-fireworks-on-july-4-sheriffs-office-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/388472\/","title":{"rendered":"K-9 killed in hit-and-run after he was spooked by illegal fireworks on July 4, sheriff\u2019s office says"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (Gray News) \u2014 A K-9 in California was struck and killed by a car after he was spooked by illegal fireworks, officials said.<\/p>\n

The Fresno County Sheriff\u2019s Office said<\/a> K-9 Santi was home Saturday night and was being kept inside due to fireworks in the area.<\/p>\n

\"K-9K-9 Santi was a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois and served with the Fresno County Sheriff\u2019s Office for four years.(Fresno County Sheriff\u2019s Office)<\/p>\n

Around 8:30 p.m., the deputy let Santi into the backyard to go pee. A firework went off while Santi was outside and spooked him, causing him to jump over the fence.<\/p>\n

Santi\u2019s handler immediately chased after him, but the \u201ccontinued sound of fireworks caused Santi to keep sprinting away,\u201d the sheriff\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

Tragically, the deputy ultimately found Santi badly injured in the road. Santi was taken to a pet hospital, where he died.<\/p>\n

Investigators determined Santi was hit by a car. The driver did not stop and left the scene.<\/p>\n

Clovis police are leading the hit-and-run investigation.<\/p>\n

Santi was a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois and served with the Fresno County Sheriff\u2019s Office for four years.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (Gray News) \u2014 A K-9 in California was struck and killed by a car after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[134325,7,51209,156608,18025,4035,112,14364,114,113,156609,161,156607,64254,156138,2599,169,156610,156604,156605,156556,156606],"class_list":["post-388472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-belgian-malinois","tag-california","tag-died","tag-dogs-and-fireworks","tag-fence","tag-fireworks","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-county-sheriffs-office","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-hit-by-a-car","tag-hit-and-run","tag-jumped-a-fence","tag-k-9","tag-k-9-santi","tag-k9","tag-killed","tag-killed-by-car","tag-police-dog","tag-police-k-9","tag-santi","tag-spooked"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}