Columbia, S.C. police dog died after being left in vehicle for eight hours

[left-of-center2012]

“I guess the simplest way for me to start is to acknowledge that we made some mistakes,” Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said at a Thursday afternoon news conference. The dog, named Turbo, was a 2-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever who specialized in explosive detection. Turbo was with CPD for seven months. Master Police Officer David Hurt worked with the dog.

Hurt was at C.A. Johnson High School for active-shooter training, Holbrook said. The officer deactivated the K-9 unit vehicle’s heat alarm, which causes a siren and horn to go off as well as an on-person alarm when the temperature inside the vehicle reaches a certain level. Hurt had parked in the shade with the rear windows down and air conditioning on, according to Holbrook.

Holbrook called Hurt’s actions negligent and lacking common sense. Holbrook said Hurt “didn’t give any logical reason for why he deactivated the heat alarm.”

The officer will face no criminal charges, but he has been removed as a K-9 officer, suspended from the bomb squad for six months and suspended with no pay for five days. Holbrook says the review determined there was no criminal intent. Information from the investigation was shared with the State Law Enforcement Division and the 5th Circuit solicitor’s office.

full story :
https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article216451415.html

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. Stupid. The heat alarm had one job and the guy disabled it. Why?

I’ll sometimes lock my dog in the truck with the ac blasting when I run in to a store for a couple minutes.

I would never trust the engine or the ac system with my girl’s life.

Maybe I would trust a heat alarm. Maybe.

[mr_lebowski]

2. This is a ridiculous cover story ... are you kidding me?

Last edited Fri Aug 24, 2018, 04:22 AM - Edit history (3)

The dog would not have died if the windows were down, in the shade, with the AC on.

Even if the car ran out of gas, the dog would've lived for quite some period of time (at least, if the shade lasted the whole time) ... this is Carolina, not Dubai we're talking about here. Was this sweet animal tied down so much s/he couldn't even put it's head outside?

And the chances of the vehicle running out of gas sitting there idling are pretty low, as I'd guess all police cars get filled up before each shift (or if left in possession of officers, they're required to fill up each time they start a shift), as it would seem pretty irresponsible to not have such a requirement.

And what cop would leave his cruiser with the windows down and the engine running (which is required for AC, at least in any car I've known, maybe it's different with a cop car somehow?) and ... then walk away for 8 hours (absent something like massive crime chase thing going on that prevented him from going back)?

And WHY would you bring a dog to a training session that's going to be 8 hours in the first friggin' place, unless you were bringing him/her with you to be part OF the training?

And that's leaving aside the whole 'turning off the alarm mechanism' part of the equation.

I'm not buying this bullshit, IOW.

[LandOfHopeAndDreams]

4. Excellent Points

The story sounds fishy. Not surprising since it involves cops. Lying comes naturally to them. Bending the story to suit their needs.

The dog is not going to die with the windows down and AC running. And why would the cop leave his engine on in the first place? The craziest part is that it was 8 hours.

He left the dog in the car, windows up, engine off, to die. And he got a 5 day suspension for it. Had it been a citizen like you or I, not that it would, the penalties would be much more severe. But those cops, ALWAYS stick together.

[mr_lebowski]

6. I'd support mandatory 1 year in jail for anyone who causes death of a domestic animal in their care

Absent a very plain 'mitigating circumstance', that can be proven to have existed at the time.

And of course I don't mean 'putting them to sleep' in a humane way.

This whole thing stinks to high heaven.

[Lee-Lee]

8. Cop messed up bad, but your wrong on several points

If the engine died the car would heat up very fast. Yes, it’s hot in S.C. in August. Very hot. And the K9 cars have inserts inside over the windows with holes so airflow is not great.

Leaving the car running is standard for K9 Officers. The K9 cars even come equipped with a special high idle switch that runs the engine faster than normal to make the AC work more efficiently and also not let the extended idling damage the engine as bad.

The dog was brought to the training because he was on duty, and while training that day would still be required to leave that and respond to any real life calls they got.

The officer was negligent in disabling the alarm and in failing to check on the dog. In my view he should face the same animal cruelty charges anyone else in those circumstances would. Now if the DA there would have said the steps he took were responsible and it was just an accident and not charged Joe Citizen, then don’t charge him. But I doubt that would be how they looked at it.

And he should be on the hook with the department for the replacement costs, but I know in any civil service job that’s almost impossible to make happen.

[LandOfHopeAndDreams]

5. Pathetic Excuse For Cops/Human Beings

Then there's this from the article:

The CPD will implement changes to try to ensure that a police dog never suffers the same fate as Turbo. Those changes include:
Never deactivating the heat alarm in a K-9 vehicle.
Creating a standard temperature for the heat alarm in K-9 vehicles.
Requiring hourly checks on dogs if they are left in a vehicle.

To get Turbo on the force and trained cost the CPD nearly $25,000, Holbrook said.

It's good that they have now decided it's a wise idea to never deactivate the heat alarm in a K-9 vehicle. But, you live and learn. In this case, the only loss is the life of a young, innocent police dog, and $25K worth of training. Easy come....

[mr_lebowski]

7. Yeah, of course ... and you know the whole 'heat alarm' was completely pro-active ...

And not AT ALL because ... this kind of shit has ALREADY happened in the past.

Nope, nothing like that.