DANVILLE — K-9 unit T.C. must have made quite an impression on one Knox Pages reader.

The reader went through Knox Pages’ Open Source portal to ask what happened to the dog that once made children smile in the community.

The answer is K-9 had to be put down around June 24, 2021, when officials believe a tumor led to him turning aggressive.

The Danville Police Department named K-9 unit T.C. after fallen officer Thomas Cottrell.

T.C. joined the force in 2016. He was put down after biting four people and not obeying verbal commands.

“T.C. got to be where he was uncontrollable,” Danville Police Chief Daniel Weckesser said. “He bit three officers and the kennel operator. Four people were bitten. They felt that he had some type of tumor.

“He is no longer in service with our police department anymore.”

“He was a wonderful dog and we hated the fact he started getting aggressive.”

Danville Police chief daniel weckesser

Weckesser said T.C. was an excellent dog before the repeated biting occurred.

“I still miss him to this day,” Weckesser said.

When the light-brown Belgian Malinois bit he wouldn’t let go, which goes against K-9 training, Weckesser said.

“He was getting to the point where he was absolutely unmanageable,” Weckesser said. “We can’t have him being a threat to my officers and the general public.”

Danville PD’s John Cox was his last handler.

Currently, the department has one K-9 named Diesel, assigned to Weckesser.

T.C. was first assigned to Sgt. Chad Lishness, according to a previous Knox Pages article.

T.C. was born in Germany and was trained by Storm Dog Tactical of Sunbury.

Lishness said T.C. could track guns and narcotics and search buildings, vehicles and apprehend suspects.