20 -year-old Skyler Robinson and 19-year-old Evan Scotese, both from Sewell NJ, are being held on $150,000 full cash bail.
Robinson was a standout high school football running back from Washington Township High School. A 2009 profile on ESPN.com said he was considering the Pittsburgh Panthers, Vanderbilt Commodores, Temple Owls, Delaware Fighting Blue Hens and the Villanova Wildcats.
Both are charged with robbery and resisting arrest. Robinson charged with assaulting a law enforcement animal.
The dog killed, named Schultz, was a member of the Gloucester Township, New Jersey police force.
Around 7:00 Tuesday night, police say Robinson and Scotese held up the Lucky Dragon Chinese Restaurant in 400 block of East Church Street in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township. Police say they assaulted an employee, grabbed money from the register, and fled on foot.
The canine picked up the scent of one of the suspects behind the restaurant. A half mile away, the German shepherd caught up with Robinson on the shoulder of Route 42.
Somehow, police say Robinson got ahold of Schultz and threw him into oncoming traffic.
Schultz was killed instantly. Robinson also was injured by the car that struck Schultz.
A person convicted of killing a police animal in New Jersey could be sentenced to five years in prison.
Overnight, Gloucester Township police officers lined up outside the Chews Landing Veterinary Hospital. They saluted a fallen hero, a K-9 who had served as part of their police force for nearly all of its three and a half year life.
The German shepherd lived with a family and they too came to the animal hospital to say a final goodbye.
"It's a very difficult time for us tonight," said Gloucester Township Police Chief Harry Earle. "There was no respect for injuring someone. And obviously no respect for injuring an animal as well."
Schultz was given his name as the result of an essay contest in a school in the Philadelphia suburb. The winning entry, from a fifth-grader, said the dog should be named after Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, a tough hockey player for the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1970s.
Counseling was being offered to the boy who won the contest to name Schultz two years ago.
Meanwhile, Gloucester Township Police announced on Facebook that a memorial fund has been set up.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
