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Police dogs from across the state on Wednesday helped Rocky Mount salute Danny the K-9 cop, a fellow four-legged officer killed on duty while helping his human partner.

In a formal ceremony replete with police honors, Rocky Mount Police Chief John Manley Jr. said Danny made the "ultimate sacrifice." The five-year veteran of the force was shot last month while helping two officers hunt a felon.

Danny's partner, Cpl. Chris Hicks, said Danny was a German shepherd with a zeal for justice: He sniffed out illegal drugs, located crime scene evidence and cornered bad guys.

"He'd work all day," Hicks said Wednesday in an interview. "All he wanted was a rubber ball and a pat on the head."

Dozens of law officers and area residents attended the ceremony, some cooling themselves with hand-held fans in the stifling heat. More than two dozen dogs of various colors and breeds stood beside their handlers, panting and occasionally tugging at leashes.

A police honor guard in dress uniforms opened the service by raising flags to half staff. The mournful notes of taps closed it. The dogs twitched their ears at the strains of bagpipes playing "Amazing Grace."

Speakers made it clear the service honored an officer.

"He had a badge, and he went out on patrol every day with Cpl. Hicks," Mayor Fred Turnage told the crowd outside Rocky Mount City Hall.

Manley said the dogs are more than partners. Handlers take the dogs home, he said, and they become "an important part of their immediate family."

So it was with Danny, said Hicks' wife, Angela. She said the dog who was trained to subdue violent criminals was commensurately gentle with their daughters, Danielle, 15, and Bailey, 5. "She'd rub him every day," Angela Hicks said of Bailey.

At the ceremony, well-wishers filed by the Hicks family to offer condolences. They signed a memorial book at a display with photos of Danny and Cpl. Hicks at various stages of training. A large photo of Danny sat in the center of a wreath beside their Dodge truck.

Danny was cremated, and the department gave the ashes to Hicks in private.

Hicks, 34, had trained with Danny since the dog was 10 months old. The stocky, ruggedly built officer, a 12-year veteran, struggled to hold his emotions in check as he received a plaque commemorating Danny. As the audience applauded, a few tethered dogs barked.

"We'll never be able to replace him in my heart," Hicks said afterward.

Wayne County Deputy Sheriff Randy Thompson stood stoically beside Linda, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois with a star-shaped badge on her collar. There's nothing like a dog as a partner, he said.

"If you can't rely on anyone else, you can rely on her," he said.

Danny was one of five dogs in the police canine corps of Rocky Mount, which is about 60 miles east of Raleigh. A representative of the U.S. Police Canine Association presented the city $1,000 toward a new dog.

Investigators said Danny accompanied Hicks and Detective Larry Antill on July 21 while they were looking for a felon wanted on charges that included gun and cocaine possession. After the two stopped a vehicle, a passenger jumped out and ran, with Hicks and Danny in pursuit. The fleeing man shot Danny.

The man suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and, courtesy of Danny, dog bites.

Police said Marcus Ray Henderson, 25, of 310 N. Howell St. in Rocky Mount, was charged with two counts of assault on a government official, assault on a law enforcement animal, discharging a firearm in the city, possession of a firearm by a felon, and resisting and obstructing an officer.

Sandy Smith of Rocky Mount, one of about 80 civilians at Wednesday's ceremony, said the charge for killing a police dog should be the same as for killing a human officer.

"It's murder," she said.

Dale Griffin, an Edgecombe Nash Humane Society worker, brought to the ceremony her daughter Dana and Lady, a Dalmatian who is a pet, not a cop.

"A lot of people were wiping more than sweat from their eyes today," she said.

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