SAULT STE. MARIE MICH - Sault Ste Marie City Police Officer Tyler Nousen and fiancée Josi Whipple welcomed a new addition to their family home on Friday Morning ... Meet Clove.
Clove is a highly energetic 10-week-old puppy, looking nearly identical to the black and brown picture colored by Vanna Young, 6, during an after school program at Washington Elementary on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022.
Little did she know, a puppy would be rescued by officers Andrew Selke and Nousen later that same evening.
Once her mother, Lisa Young, heard the news she knew the picture was meant for the puppy’s new parents.
"It was bizarre that it looked like the puppy in the picture," Young said.
Her other daughter, Ava Young, attends fourth grade at Lincoln Elementary. She also colored a picture of the puppy. The sisters delivered their pictures to new puppy parents Nousen and Whipple at the city police department on Monday evening.
Clove was present to greet the girls with some warm, wet kisses.
“I thought it was cool to meet Clove, and I wanted to give the officer the picture too,” said Ava Young. “I am really glad she has a safe home now.”
Nousen felt the community's love and support when he saw the colored puppy pictures.
“They are definitely going to be hanging somewhere in our house,” he told them.
The city police officers recovered Clove after receiving a call from Dave and Jennifer Corbiere of Rrrick's Pawn, Consignment & Auction House that a puppy was trapped under the Spruce Street Bridge.
They were hanging Christmas lights when they heard whimpering down by the rushing water below.
“We were called out to a dog that was tossed over the bridge,” said Nousen. “My partner, Selke, arrived first and observed a dog at the side of the canal. Selke jumped over the fence and rescued the dog. It was a pretty big slope down to the water.”
Meanwhile, Nousen called the puppy away from the river.
The temperature on Wednesday evening was approximately 20 degrees. The water temperature of the St. Marys River was roughly 30 degrees.
“I picked the puppy up and handed her to Officer Garrett Markstrom,” Selke said.
The dog was transported to the Chippewa County Animal Shelter for a check-up. She was deemed healthy.
“I went there at 11 a.m. on Thursday when the shelter opened to ask if I could have her,” Nousen said. “I picked her up on Friday.”
His fiancée was “shocked.”
“We had talked about getting a puppy,” said Whipple, who teaches first grade at Brimley Area Schools. “I was thinking over the summer when I wasn't working. I came home and there she was.”
Whipple was happy to welcome their new "lucky" addition, now known as Clove.
A Sault Ste Marie City Police Department issued the following press release on the evening of Monday, Nov. 21:
NEWS RELEASE
SAULT STE MARIE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
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"This release provides updated information about the Animal Cruelty investigation that was posted on the Sault Ste. Marie Police Department's Facebook page on November 17th, 2022.
Two subjects, one adult and one juvenile, have been formally charged in this case.
The adult, Jasmine Elise Clark, was charged with Torturing Animals 3rd Degree which is felony that carries a penalty of imprisonment for not more than 4 years, a fine of not more than $5,000.00, and community service for not more than 500 hours. Clark was arraigned on November 18th in the 91st District Court and given a $10,000 bond.
The juvenile, whose name will not be released, has been referred to the 50th Circuit Court (Juvenile Court). All persons are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
On November 16th, 2022, officers of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Department recovered a puppy that had been dropped over a railing on the Spruce Street Bridge and abandoned.
The puppy had been dropped several feet into a fenced area on the bank of the Cloverland Power Canal. Due to the fencing and the swift flowing water in the canal, the puppy had no way to escape.
Temperatures were in the low to mid 20’s. A Sault PD officer lowered himself over the bridge into the fenced area where the puppy was located. Due to the height of the fence, this officer lifted the puppy over his head and passed it along to another Sault PD officer waiting on the bridge above. The puppy was found unharmed.
It was placed into a warm police car and transported to the Sault Ste. Marie Police Department before being turned over to the Chippewa County Animal Shelter.
Sault PD officers located video surveillance footage of the incident and with the help of the community through social media, were able to ascertain who was responsible. Sault PD officers continued the investigation which led to charges being authorized by the Chippewa County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. The suspects have been cooperative.
The puppy has since been adopted by one of the Sault PD officers involved in the rescue."
For any inquires pertaining to this release, please contact: Chief Wesley L. Bierling - (906) 632-5744 / [email protected].
