STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The NYPD on Friday announced the death of a local hero on Staten Island who in 2021 was announced “Top Dog” by a national law enforcement association.
Police K-9 “Timmy” had served 12 years with the NYPD and assisted with “numerous gun and drug arrests,” while also playing an “integral role in solving many high profile cases in NYC,” the department wrote in memoriam on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The German shepherd was named after NYPD Detective Russel Timoshenko, of Staten Island, who was shot and killed in 2007 after pulling over a stolen vehicle in Brooklyn.
Under the handling of a new partner, Detective Benjamin Colecchia, “Timmy” went on to assist in several missing persons cases on Staten Island.
He helped find the body of a missing Staten Island doctor in Clove Lakes Park; led authorities to the remains of a slain elementary school teacher Jeanine Cammarata at a storage facility in Arden Heights; alerted officers of human remains in a wooded section of the borough, and led officers to biological evidence in a missing person case turned homicide investigation.
In 2021, “Timmy” and Colecchia won Top Dog honors and National Handler of the Year at the National U.S. Police K-9 Association trials. It was the latest in several awards garnered over the years. At the time, Det. Timoshenko’s mother, Tatyana Timoshenko, spoke about their achievements in the years following her son’s death.
Tatyana Timoshenko pets K-9 “Timmy” at the “Cop of the Month” ceremony at the Staten Island Advance, Monday May 6, 2019. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)
“The dog is smart. He keeps my son’s memory alive, so I feel good and appreciative of both Timoshenko and Benny for the hard work and doing a good job,” she said.
“I know all of the achievements and things [K9 Timoshenko] has done. Benny has kept us updated, and for that I am proud of the teamwork they both have. It means so much to my husband and me that through this…
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