Yarmouth Police K-9 dog Nero, seen here recovering after being shot in 2018.Photo: Yarmouth Police Department
BOSTON (State House News Service) — Nero's Bill is now Nero's Law. Police dogs injured in the line of duty can be treated and transported by emergency medical personnel in Massachusetts under a new law signed by Gov. Charlie Baker late Tuesday afternoon.
The measure was named for K9 Nero of the Yarmouth Police Department, who was injured in the same 2018 incident in which his partner, Sgt. Sean Gannon, was killed. Several ambulances were on the scene, but none were allowed to assist Nero, who had to be transported to a veterinary clinic in a cruiser.
Rep. Steve Xiarhos, who was a Yarmouth deputy police chief in 2018, has made advocating for the bill a central part of his first term in the House. It was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Mark Montigny.
"WE DID IT!!" wrote Xiarhos in a message to the News Service. He said a ceremony will be held "in the near future" to celebrate the new law.
Written by Sam Doran, SHNS
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