Cop leaves K9 unit in car at police department, dog dead.

[DaGuru]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/07/k9-dog-dies-heat-stroke/16869415/

MONTVILLE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A K9 with an Ohio police department was found dead after being left in a police vehicle for more than four hours, police said.

According to the Montville Township Police Department, Beny died of heat stroke while it was left in its kennel in the back seat of the police car Sept. 28.

Sgt. Brett Harrison arrived at the police station, about 36 miles south of Cleveland, shortly before 11 a.m. and started working on paperwork for several cases, police said.

The dog, which according to WEWS-TV, Cleveland, was 2-years-old, was found lying lifeless in the compartment's kennel about 3 p.m. It was almost 79 degrees outside when the dog was found.

Harrison received a two-week unpaid suspension as well as a loss of 40 hours of vacation time, police said.

Police Chief Terry Grice said, "This is a loss that words cannot describe, and it is very difficult for everyone involved. There is no doubt that this loss will have a lasting impact on Sgt. Harrison and our entire department. Sgt. Harrison cared deeply about Beny. He worked with him 40-plus hours a week and Beny lived with Sgt. Harrison and his family when the two were off duty. Sgt. Harrison is overwhelmed with grief, and is taking this loss very hard."

Police say Harrison had not been previously disciplined. He first joined the force in 2007.

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This story is making a lot of fuss here in northeast Ohio. What has people so irate, is if it was the common citizen maiming/killing a K9 we would be charged criminally....probably with something like "assaulting a police officer" or worse. But because he's a stormtrooping bully and one of their own? Meh, 2 weeks vacay and a big bag of "awwwwww shucks".

2 sets of rules folks, one for all of us....and another for "them".

[LOVE]

Disgusting. Is it not the absent mindedness of the officer here by which I am disgusted. Whether it cab be said he was negligent or not, I have some compassion for him in the loss of his fellow officer.. and that's something I will come back to in a minute but I want to make it very clear that I am disgusted by the fact that Justice has been shown once again not to be blind to colour, and blue is no more or less a colour to be noticed or ignored than black or white.

At first the thought of being held accountable for the manslaughter of a fellow officer is laughable, but if the law for which they work (yes, I made a distinction there) is not applied just as it would for a civilian who is charged and convicted with a similar crime, say for assaulting or killing a police officer where the distinction is made that a police dog can also be considered a police officer, then how can the judicial system not bear into play here for fear of invalidating established law and examine a potential conviction even if the department do not want to press charges?

Or does the dog need to be on duty? Is it more comparable to, say, leaving a child in the car to die on a hot day by accident? Animal abuse? or simply an accident in which a piece of government property was written off and will need to be claimed against whatever applicable taxpayer funded insurer for a new piece of government property, manufactured and delivered in working order?

As someone who does not know the applicable law system as well as other contributors here might, I am watching this with interest and want to see what exactly will come of this and whether the rightful ramifications will ripple outwards into the justice system, or whether it will be just another oops-a-daisy.

[DaGuru]

All great points Love, and you are echoing many of the sentiments out here. This case has taken an even more bizarre twist, since the podunk prosecutor doesn't have the guts to charge the cop with anything....they've decided to let the county SPCA do an investigation and let THEM recommend if any charges should be filed, all under the guise of "conflict of interest". Say that out loud for a minute and let it sink in... THE SPCA is now given the power to exercise jurisprudence instead of the police department and prosecutors office having to actually do their fuckin jobs fairly and in the same manner they would handle it towards a normal citizen.

[-SpectraL]

These bags of worthless shit make me literally sick to my stomach. Dress the low-IQ, dumbfucks up in fancy monkey suits and pin a crackerjack badge on them and they think they're nothing but silver shit with gold on top. They aren't above the law, but they think they are. If it was up to me, I'd throw them all in prison at hard labor for lengthy prison terms. That's exactly where they all rightfully belong. Worthless sacks of pathetic criminal shit is all  the entire pack of them really are; they've proved that time and time and time again. We need to find a way to start throw life sentences on these despicable pieces of shit.