A police K9 with the Longbeach, California, police department was found dead inside of his handler’s car on the afternoon of August 14. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the six-year-old shepherd/Malinois mix is believed to have died from heatstroke; the temperature on the day of the dog’s death was in the mid-80s.
On Friday, the department released additional information about the incident, which claimed the life of Ozzy. In a release, the department stated that Ozzy was inside of the patrol car, which is equipped with “fail/safe equipment” which is designed to issue an alert if the vehicle interior gets too hot. The department believes that the equipment may not have been functioning when Ozzy died.
The department assures the public that this was an “unfortunate incident” which was accidental rather than intentional, and has asked that everyone respect the handler and his family. The situation remains under investigation – after the review is completed, steps will be put into place to ensure that it won’t happen again.
In the meantime, all handlers are inspecting their Heat System Controller equipment before every shift.
Rest in peace Ozzy.
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Accident’s are caused either by “Carelessness or Intentional ” there are No Accidents” Think that’s why People have a Brain
Never like to hear of a dog dying like this and when it happens to a Police K-9 it is totally unacceptable. I don’t care how fail safe the “alert” system is, a dog should never be left in a car long enough to die. These things do happen and that is why checking on a dog is necessary! Rest in peace K-9 Ozzy you never should have died like this!
This is UNFORGIVEABLE! I guess some police officers don’t care about their dogs! I remember one on Live PD said–“my dog is just a “tool on my belt”!
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE A PARTNER LIKE THAT!
In any case, I sincerely believe that most police officers TREASURE their canine partners–AND WELL THEY SHOULD! Rest in peace, beloved Officer Ozzy!
I DON’T buy this story that the ” fail/safe ” equipment may ” have ” malfunctioned. That’s too suspicious. I think the officer/handler of this K-9 pup DIDN’T turned it on and left him in there knowingly!! He SHOULD be fully investigated and FIRED for his irresponsibility and negligence. SHAME on him!!