Police dog dies after being left in hot patrol car

Police dog dies after being left in hot patrol car

Eugene Scott
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 13, 2007 12:35 PM

A Chandler police dog died after his handler left him unattended in a hot patrol car, police said.

Sgt. Tom Lovejoy discovered the body of Bandit, his Belgian Malinois, Saturday.

After Lovejoy finished a duty assignment and returned home he unintentionally left Bandit in his patrol vehicle, police said. Lovejoy found Bandit in the car later that day. A preliminary investigation shows the dog died from extreme heat.

This incident is under investigation. Police have not released information about Lovejoy's status or what disciplinary action he may face.

Two other Valley police departments also lost K-9 dogs earlier this year - one in a similar incident.

In March, a Phoenix police dog was rushed to a veterinarian after being left in an unmarked police vehicle without ventilation. Authorities said the car was idling at the time, but the air-conditioning may have malfunctioned.

The handler and clinic employees decided to euthanize Top, a 5-year-old black Labrador, the following day.

The same month the Mesa Police Department had a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois die while the dog was chasing a suspect after the dog was struck by a vehicle on Main Street near Lindsay Road.

Dammit, I hate seeing these kinds of stories...

It's bad enough when Joe Public does this shit, but a fucking trained K-9 handler?

What the FUCK?

Yeah I know... if only we could apply manslaughter charges to a dog...

Are any of these cops going to have to answer for this? I know it's "just" a dog, but if you let a fellow officer die because of your incompetence, there'd be a price to pay.

I'd be hippocritical as hell if they didn't. Killing a K-9 dog in the line of duty carries a much greater punishment than killing some regular guy's dog.

Taking away the sad death of the pooch, it costs a lot of money to train those dogs. You think a cop would get in trouble if he lost his patrol car?

THAT. HORSE. WAS A DIABETIC!!!

Tsk, and he had so many non violent drug offenders left to maul.
*Choke*
You're pissin on God's lawn now, boy.

Mmmmm... Just taste those heavenly Milk Bonz.

Can't say I blame dogs for the idiotic devotion of some humans to deem drugs as the great undoing of society.

Dogs are dogs, they do what they're trained to do. Ain't no dog born to bark at cocaine or subdue possible law breakers.

I'm betting that none of the K-9 dogs maul anyone unless they're resisting arrest. These are highly trained animals.

These cops should have to pay for the training of a new dog.

OMG, Chuck, my heart broke after reading this story. Words cannot describe my sorrow.

Poor puppy.

So being a police dog in Arizona is ruff.



Bad jokes out of the way, the poor dog. I just can't understand people leaving their kids or animals in a blazing hot vehicle. Especially a cop.

I know, I was just being a misanthropic bastard in order to set up that punchline.

Seriously though, damn.

Bandit should've called for backup.

So what would the consequences for a civilian be if they bashed in the window of a police cruiser to save the life of a dog in that situation?

Running field goal kick to the head, and lethal choke hold.

Obvously, arrested for vandalism and possibly theft.

Probably not pleasant.

Chances are the police would come out enraged and insist that there were "coming right back" and that the dog was in "no danger" (which of course it wouldn't be if the civilian had bashed the window in time).

Wonder why you never hear of police leaving a pedophile locked in a car with the windows up and engine not running for 8-10 hours................

I put a choke hold on a shoplifter once.

He whined that I was "killing him" and collapsed to the ground.

You know, in Texas you can't stop a shoplifter until they are physically out of the store.

In Arkansas you can stop someone the moment they conceal an item.

Why ya think Rover resigned??

Because they found him on the Spot...........

I'm not sticking up for them, by any means, but, that would be alleged pedophile............unless of course you caught him with the goods in his mouth/hands. There's nothing more hated than a pediphile in jail. Maybe, dying in a car of asphixia and dehydration is too swift for such a heinous deed.

They should add opening the car window to the dogs' training.

How could you refrain from saying something like:
"Oh, I haven't even started killing you..."

Of all the "stupid people" stories I've seen posted on WF and elsewhere, this one is probably at the top of the list.

I mean, WTF???

How about something like this? If it works it's thirty bucks well spent.