A police dog that took part in Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral has died after sustaining serious injuries in a car crash. PD Bert, a five-year-old springer spaniel, had been with Cleveland Police for three-and-a-half years when a BMW collided with a canine support unit vehicle in Hartlepool on Thursday evening. The springer was deployed to London to assist with the late Queen’s funeral in 2022 and helped officers recover drugs, cash and firearms, including £250,000 of criminal money in one search alone, during his time with the force.
PD Bert was taken to a veterinary clinic following the crash and was humanely put to sleep. An officer travelling in the vehicle sustained minor injuries and another dog was found to be unharmed. A 33-year-old man was arrested and charged with drink driving, Cleveland Police said, and will appear at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on August 1.
The force said enquiries were ongoing as officials “continue to investigate the full circumstances surrounding the collision”.
PD Bert, along with his handler and fellow police dog, had been responding to an emergency incident at the time of the crash, Cleveland Police added.
A spokesperson described the five-year-old dog’s death, due to “the severity of his injuries”, as “very sad”.
PD Bert was among over 50 dogs trained in explosives and firearms detection deployed to London for the Queen’s funeral in the autumn of 2022, following the 96-year-old’s death on September 8.
Over 5,000 officers from the across the UK were also sent to the capital in what the National Police Chief’s Council described as “the largest ever ceremonial [policing] operation” to “ensure security and that the public could pay their respects safely”.
Search dogs, a mounted section and armed response officers also patrolled town and city centres across the UK on the day of national mourning, in what then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman praised as an operation with “incredible scale and complexity”.
