Arlington break-in arrest leaves six officers, police dog assaulted

A Columbia Pike break-in call turned into a violent takedown when Arlington County police say six officers and one police K-9 were assaulted during the arrest of a 34-year-old Arlington man.

At about 6:12 p.m. on April 17, officers were sent to the 1800 block of Columbia Pike for a suspicious person report. Police say Oleh Mashkin entered a secured residential building, shoved an adult victim out of an elevator, then forced his way into a secured, unoccupied apartment and damaged property inside. The victim who was pushed from the elevator did not report injuries.

When officers found Mashkin, he was pacing and praying, and police said he refused to comply when they tried to arrest him. That is when officers deployed both a Taser and a police K-9 to get the situation under control. Mashkin was ultimately taken into custody after the struggle, and the county later identified him as Oleh Mashkin, 34, of Arlington, Virginia.

The arrest left one officer transported to a hospital out of caution, a second officer self-reporting with minor injuries, and four more treated at the scene. Mashkin was also taken to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and, after his release, was held without bond. The county’s crime report lists the case under incident numbers 2026-04170172 and 2026-04180002 and classifies it as Assault on Police.

For the K-9 world, the detail that matters is not just that a dog was present, but that the dog was used in a live, physical apprehension. Arlington County charged Mashkin with Injuring a Police Animal, along with Assault on Police six times, Assault and Battery, Obstruction of Justice, Destruction of Property twice, and Burglary. That charge alone says how quickly a building-search call can become a fight that threatens a dog built for speed, courage, and control under pressure.

Arlington’s K-9 program dates to 1979, when it began with one handler and one police service dog. The Arlington Police Foundation says the unit now has three K-9 teams, deployed for work that includes building searches, suspect apprehension, and missing persons. The county police department itself was formed on February 1, 1940, with nine members, a reminder of how far the force has evolved since then.

Arlington County police also note that daily crime reports are not a complete list of every incident and can appear a day or two after the event. In this case, the paper trail matched the scene: a hard arrest, a hurt K-9, and a suspect who left the building in custody after a confrontation that could have ended much differently.