Not ‘just an animal’: After ‘Live PD’ effort, dog rescuers awarded by Sheriff Lott
Maxine wasn’t just a dog.
She was a pack leader, a friend to strangers, and Fran Prokop’s companion of 17 years.
And on Friday night, Maxine was stuck in a storm drain, whimpering, just as 10-year-old Corval Reynolds was passing by.
Without hesitation, Corval told his mother, who called 911.
His quick action and the team effort by other neighbors and a pair of Richland County sheriff’s deputies helped saved Maxine, giving the elderly dog a few more days to spend in comfort with her family in Blythewood before she died over the weekend.
Their heroics were captured in real-time on the popular “Live PD” television show, prompting an outpouring of concern from the show’s fans for Maxine and of thanks to her rescuers, Sheriff Leon Lott said.
On Monday, Lott awarded Corval and two other neighbors, John Edwards and Steven Cantey, with the Sheriff’s Award for Community Service. The two deputies who assisted with Maxine’s rescue, Bryce Hughes and Chris Sinceno, were honored with the Sheriff’s Award for Excellence.
“We’ve had some people say, ‘Well, it was just an animal.’ No. Anybody who’s got a dog knows,” Lott said. “You saw people reach down deep in their heart, deep in their souls, get together to do something that counts.”
Maxine, a golden retriever-red heeler mix, had slipped out of her yard on a bathroom break. Her family spent the day looking for her, driving all over the neighborhood and posting about her on social media, Prokop said.
They couldn’t see or hear her anywhere. But Corval did. As the deputies arrived, so did Edwards, who was willing to crawl into the drainage pipe multiple times, and Cantey, who lent equipment to help pull the dog out.
Deputies Hughes and Sinceno put Maxine in their car and drove her to a vet, who helped locate her family thanks to a microchip.
Maxine returned to her family, but their remaining time together was short. After 17 years of companionship, and after a long struggle with kidney disease, Maxine died on Sunday night, Prokop said.
But thanks to the rescuers, Lott noted, Maxine was able to spend two more days with the people who loved her.
“She was very in-tune with people,” Prokop said. “I don’t think she realized she was a dog. I think she thought she was a person.”
Even before the sheriff’s department had a chance to offer to pay Maxine’s vet bill, someone who saw the rescue on “Live PD” had already taken care of it, Lott said. The entire situation was evidence of “the goodness that we have in everybody’s hearts.”
“The last few months, we’ve seen a lot of fear in our communities, a lot of uncertainty with what’s going on with the virus and just not knowing what’s goinig to happen,” Lott said. “Friday night, we saw the good in people.”
