Sheriff's Office K-9 receives medal for courage after York County ambush

YORK COUNTY, S.C. — Gabby, a K-9 with the York County Sheriff’s Office, was awarded the Medal of Valor for courage Friday.

Sgt. Randy Clinton and Gabby survived a violent ambush on Jan. 16, 2018.

Clinton was one of the four officers shot. Detective Mike Doty was killed in the attack.

Clinton feared his former partner, Gabby, was also wounded, but the shots rang out she ran to him to lick his face.

[York County Sheriff's Office marks ambush anniversary]

He said his and Gabby’s bond is indescribable.

“There is a bond there that I don’t know, that I can explain,” Clinton said.

He also praised the fearlessness exhibited by K-9s like Gabby.

“There’s probably no more desperate man than a man who's on the run. They (the K-9s) just courageously go out and lead us to those men,” Clinton said.

Gabby became the York County Sheriff’s Office’s first K-9 to ever receive the award.

Cox Media Group