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Officer Meets Injured K-9 Cop Who Nabbed Suspect Who Allegedly Tried To Run Her Over

SANTA ANA (CBSLA)  --  A Garden Grove officer thanked another officer for helping nab a suspect who allegedly tried to run her over.

Garden Grove Motorcycle Officer Katherine Anderson met Officer Puskas -- the K-9 officer who sprang into action to bring down a carjacking suspect breaking several teeth in the process.

CBS2's Michele Gile was there for the happy meet-and-greet in Santa Ana Wednesday.

"We could not have done this without this guy right here," said Anderson, patting Puskas' head.

Anderson said Puskas was her hero. He was just out of surgery Tuesday for six broken teeth that shattered when he helped take down alleged carjacker and felon Antonio Padilla after a pursuit Monday.

Padilla police said is the same man who tried to run over Anderson with his truck in Garden Grove one week ago.

She and her 9-year-old daughter saw Puskas chase Padilla on live TV.

"When she saw me jumping up and down," said Anderson. "She kinda put two and two together. This is our guy, who tried to hurt her mom. She wanted to go down to the scene right there then, too. But this little one (she says patting Puskas) handled business. This one here is the real hero."

Padilla has a long rap sheet. Starting in 1998, he was arrested for 1st degree robbery. In 2006, he was arrested for criminal threats.

In 2007, he was arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm and burglary in 2011. In 2017 he was arrested for inflicting corporal injury, Gile reported.

Padilla is now looking at new charges including assault on a police officer, injuring a police dog and carjacking. If convicted on those counts he is facing up to 120 years behind bars.

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