Died – 12\/24\/22<\/p>\n
K-9 deputy left outside in the cold dies, buried in a different county<\/p>\n
WJCL Investigates a K-9 Deputy in Hampton County left outside in the bitter cold. The dog died later that day, and since then, we\u2019ve been asking the tough questions to figure out what went wrong.December 24, 2022. Christmas Eve in Hampton County, South Carolina.\u202f While most families are staying inside, sheriff’s office K-9 Levi was alone, outside in an un-heated kennel.\u202f\u201cWhen I checked the weather, I think it was like 30-31 degrees that day,\u201d Sheriff Anthony Russell told WJCL Investigates.Our meteorologists tell us temperatures plunged as low as 13 degrees that day.\u202f\u201cThey came out here twice on Christmas Eve to check on the dog, and the second time they came, the dog was dead in the kennels. And I asked about the burial, and that’s when they told me that they buried the dog,\u201d said Russell.Without delay, and without an investigation, Sheriff Russell says K-9 Deputy Levi was unceremoniously buried on a property in Allendale, the next county over.No public statement was ever made. WJCL Investigates learned about what happened from a tip.\u201cI am going to be open and honest with you. I\u2019m not going to lie, I have been trying to avoid this because I was hurt by it. But at some point, the citizens need to know what happened. This happened under the prior administration, it didn’t happen on my watch,\u201d Russell said.Sheriff Russell tells us he didn’t know until Jan. 3 \u2014 10 days after the incident and the first business day after we filed our first Freedom of Information Act request.\u202fAfter waiting 10 days, Sheriff Russell told us they had lost our request. So, we refiled and waited.It wasn\u2019t until March, when we got our lawyers involved, that deputies responded with a one-page incident report.
\nIn it, a deputy wrote that he checked on the dog for a second time “do to cold weather,\u201d and when he found K-9 Deputy Levi lying under his kennel, he wrote, “That didn’t seem right.”The deputy then called several top sheriff\u2019s officials, including the then-Sheriff Thomas \u201cT.C.\u201d Smalls, who told them to find a place to properly bury the K-9 deputy.They settled on an ex-deputy\u2019s land, which Sheriff Russell confirmed is in Allendale County.\u201cWhen I found out about it, the dog had already been buried on someone else’s property. I’ve always questioned that, too,\u201d Russell said. \u201cI have to take the officer’s word on that. He said that he checked on the dog that morning, the dog was fine. He came back later on that afternoon, and the dog was dead. And the dog was not a young dog.\u201dKyle Briley has been a K-9 officer for nearly a decade and founded the Georgia Police K-9 Foundation, which helps police departments across the state provide top-notch services for the K-9s.The foundation says the dog and training can cost as much as $20,000. There are also necessary expenses that tack on another $10,000.Corporal Briley says he’s never heard of a K-9 death treated like this.\u202f\u201cTypically, what happens is that there’s either an internal affairs investigation or an outside agency comes in and does some type of review or assessment or conducts an investigation to make sure everything went as what was stated,\u201d Briley told WJCL Investigates.In Briley\u2019s agency, if dogs are left outside, they’re checked on twice an hour.In Hampton County, Sheriff Russell says he’s implemented a new policy of checking on the dogs twice a day. \u201cWe would probably want to have a higher standard than that. And then within the Statesboro Police Department, I can tell you that wouldn\u2019t be acceptable,\u201d said Briley.From 2007 until January 2023, Thomas \u201cT.C.\u201d Smalls was the Hampton County sheriff.When we spoke with him on the phone in July, Smalls told us that he didn\u2019t remember what took place. Our conversation didn\u2019t go much further than that.\u201cI ain\u2019t answering any more questions because I don\u2019t have the information before me,\u201d Smalls told WJCL Investigates.\u201cI don\u2019t think it was right because the dog should\u2019ve had a funeral. The dog should\u2019ve been rewarded for his services,\u201d said Russell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Died – 12\/24\/22 K-9 deputy left outside in the cold dies, buried in a different county WJCL Investigates a K-9 Deputy in Hampton County left outside in the bitter cold. The dog died later that day, and since then, we\u2019ve been asking the tough questions to figure out what went wrong.December 24, 2022. Christmas Eve …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[53],"class_list":["post-14837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-k9memorial","tag-sc"],"yoast_head":"\n