South Carolina officer suspended after police dog left in car dies
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A police dog handler in South Carolina has been suspended without pay for five days after his dog was left in a police vehicle for more than six hours and died from the heat.
Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said Master Police Officer David Hurt had the air conditioning on, but for some unexplained reason turned off a heat alarm and left his windows open July 26.
Holbrook says Hurt was doing active shooter training and never let the dog named “Turbo” out, even to use the bathroom.
Holbrook said Thursday that prosecutors found Hurt used terrible judgment, but wasn’t criminally negligent.
He says Hurt can never handle another dog. Turbo was his first K-9 squad assignment.
The Labrador retriever mix had been a police dog seven months.
