By Johnny Kelly
From: Examiner.com
A tragic accident has left a Mississippi K-9 police dog dead.
WLOX reports a Jackson County sheriff deputy left Chuck, the K-9 dog, in his running police car with the air turned on while he went inside to fill out a report, which officials say is normal procedure.
But when the deputy returned after a significant amount time had passed, he found the car was no longer running and the dog was dead.
Officials say the 4-year-old Belgian Malinois died from heat exhaustion.
According to the National Weather Service, the temperature in the area reached 90 degrees Thursday afternoon. But the temperature likely soared well over 100 degrees inside the police vehicle with all of the windows up.
It was not disclosed how long the deputy left the dog in the vehicle.
Chuck is best known for his capture of a high profile bank robber in September 2011, who led police on a high speed chase after robbing banks in Daphne, Ala. and Pensacola, Fla.
Chuck chased the suspect into the woods after he jumped out his vehicle and captured him by biting his shoe and thigh and holding him until authorities got to the area to arrest him.
Sheriff Mike Byrd said Chuck lived with the deputy, who is devastated over the tragic loss of his K-9 partner. The dog was purchased with seized drug money.
Dozens of similar incidents have occurred with dogs and young children being left in hot vehicles over the past few months.
Read more: Examiner.com
