Third grader raises money to buy bulletproof vests for dozens of police dogs

A 9-year-old boy didn't like seeing police dogs run into dangerous situations without protection — so he raised nearly $80,000 to help buy them bulletproof vests.

What's the story?

Like many Americans, young Brad Snakovsky of Strongsville, Ohio, loved watching A&E's hit real-time police show "Live PD." What he didn't love was seeing police dogs in danger.

"Once I told Brady that they were not automatically issued a vest like their human partner, he decided he wanted to buy a vest for a K-9 who didn't have one," Brady's mother, Leah Tornabene, told Fox TV.

So Brady, who finished third grade on Friday, started a GoFundMe campaign in January 2018 to raise money for a single vest to be donated to a police K-9. Since then, he has raised $77,318. With the help of his mother, his fundraiser has been turned into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has donated vests to 84 police dogs in several states.

The vests that Brady is purchasing are lightweight, so that the dogs are able to wear them "throughout their entire shift and through training days so they can focus on what they do best." But he isn't ready to stop yet. Brady's website says that he has an additional 51 Police K-9 units on a waiting list to get vests once he raises enough money.

"When we hand one out, it's great to know that's one less K-9 hitting the streets unprotected," Tornabene said.

Even Brady's siblings chipped in. Tornabene said her "older son, Jaden, went downstairs and got money out of his piggy bank" to help with Brady's cause.

Unsurprisingly, according to his GoFundMe page, Brady hopes to one day become a police officer himself.