Died – 10\/26\/18
\nHandler – Officer Larry Maraldo<\/p>\n
Monongahela police K-9 Beny dies unexpectedly<\/p>\n
Monongahela police are mourning the unexpected death of a 10-year veteran of the department after K-9 Beny died Friday morning, just after completing the midnight shift with his partner, Officer Larry Maraldo. Chief Brian Tempest said Maraldo noticed about halfway through the shift that the 12-year-old German shepherd was becoming lethargic. \u201cHe started making calls to veterinary facilities about the end of his shift,\u201d Tempest said of Maraldo. \u201cThey went home, and about 9 a.m., Beny stopped breathing.\u201d Monongahela police got Beny in July 2008 through a grant from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation.\u201cWe thought it would be a good idea to name him \u2018Beny,\u2019 given how were able to get him,\u201d Tempest said. Beny specialized in drug detection. He and Maraldo trained with the City of Pittsburgh K-9 unit. Two years ago, Beny had to undergo emergency surgery when his back legs became paralyzed. He underwent surgery on his spinal column to repair one of his discs. Beny was off duty for almost two months, and for much of that time had to remain motionless for 23\u00bd hours a day. The community had fundraisers such as bake sales and placed donation jars throughout the city to raise the $6,000 needed for his medical care.Maraldo said at that time Beny must have become angry about being left at home during his convalescence because he would chew things up in the family\u2019s home, something he had never done before. \u201cBeny still liked coming to work,\u201d Tempest said. The chief said Beny\u2019s death caught them by surprise. He said they had started to think about getting another K-9 for the department. \u201cBut this has hit us hard,\u201d Tempest said. \u201cGetting a new dog is not something we want to even think about at this point.\u201d Tempest said there will be a small service in Beny\u2019s honor at noon Monday at city hall. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Died – 10\/26\/18 Handler – Officer Larry Maraldo Monongahela police K-9 Beny dies unexpectedly Monongahela police are mourning the unexpected death of a 10-year veteran of the department after K-9 Beny died Friday morning, just after completing the midnight shift with his partner, Officer Larry Maraldo. Chief Brian Tempest said Maraldo noticed about halfway through …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-5974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-k9memorial","tag-pa"],"yoast_head":"\n