Chandler police probe death of K-9 left in car almost 13 hours

Chandler police are investigating whether the head of its K-9 unit, whose police dog died after being left unattended in a squad vehicle for almost 13 hours, violated any department policies.

VIDEO: Dog forgotten in car

VIDEO: Chandler PD speaks out

Police are not conducting a criminal investigation because they believe Sgt. Tom Lovejoy’s actions on Saturday were at most negligent, police spokesman Sgt. Rick Griner said.

To be charged with animal cruelty under state law, someone must intentionally or recklessly leave an animal in a vehicle when injury or death likely would occur.

Lovejoy is still on duty and, if found to have violated policy, could face department punishment.

He discovered that the dog, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois named Bandit, had died in his police sport utility vehicle parked outside his house about 10 p.m. Saturday.

Preliminary information indicates that Bandit succumbed to the extreme heat.

“It’s very tragic,” Griner said. “The sergeant is very upset about this.”

Lovejoy had returned home at 9:15 a.m. Saturday after completing a three-hour parking enforcement detail in downtown Chandler. Lovejoy took Bandit in case he was called out to help in the investigation of the serial rapist.

Bandit was one of six police K-9s. He lived with Lovejoy and was trained to protect officers and to sniff out explosives. In 2007, Bandit and Lovejoy took fourth place at the Desert Dog Police K-9 Trials.

Lovejoy has been the supervisor of the K-9 unit for fourand-a-half years and has been a sergeant with the department for the last seven years.

On Saturday, the high temperature was 109 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Ten minutes in 100-degree heat can raise the temperature to 140 degrees inside a vehicle, Chandler fire spokesman Dan Couch said.

Couch said the number of pets left in vehicles is far lower than the number of children left in vehicles. He estimated that there are incidents of unattended pets about two or three times each month in Chandler.

The major problem dogs face is that they don’t sweat. Instead, they cool by panting, he said.

Animals are left in vehicles almost on a daily basis in Arizona as people go shopping or forget their pet, said Kim Noetzel, spokeswoman for the Arizona Humane Society.

She said the summer is never a good time to leave an animal in a vehicle because of the extreme heat, and she hopes the death of Bandit reminds people of that.

Aprille Hollis, spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Animal Care and Control, said, “It’s just too easy to forget about” them.

In March, a Phoenix police dog was left in a department vehicle and died. Police have finished an investigation but would not comment because the case remains under final review.