Handler – Officer Ronald Weekes<\/p>\n
A Miami Gardens police dog died after being left in a hot car. An investigation is underway.<\/p>\n
An investigation is underway into the death of a Miami Gardens police dog named Razor who died after he was left in a hot vehicle, the Miami Herald has learned. Multiple law enforcement sources say the department\u2019s internal affairs unit has launched a probe into Miami Gardens Officer Ronald Weekes after his dog died in mid-November. The department has kept the dog\u2019s death quiet. Miami Gardens police spokesman Carlos Austin declined to comment on Tuesday, saying there \u201cis an open investigation into this incident, therefore no information can be given at this time.\u201d The police chief\u2019s office, however, notified fellow officers that Razor died. \u201cK9 Razor was part of the City of Miami Gardens family for a short time, nevertheless his dedication and service shall never be forgotten!\u201d Chief Delma Noel-Pratt said in an internal email to the department on Nov. 15. \u201cTo our K9 team, especially Officer Ronald Weekes, you have my deepest condolences. In time, we will honor K9 Razor.\u201d The email, obtained by the Miami Herald, did not mention any circumstances of Razor\u2019s death or the internal affairs probe. Law enforcement sources told the Miami Herald that Razor was still in training before his death, and Weekes had not yet been certified as a K9 officer. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, three Miami Gardens police officers have voluntary certifications with their police dogs \u2014 and Weekes and Razor are not among them. Many details about Razor\u2019s death remained unclear. One source told the Miami Herald that something went wrong with Weekes\u2019 air-conditioning system. \u201cSomething happened in the vehicle,\u201d the source said. \u201cWhether it was turned off or mechanical is being investigated.\u201d Mike Hellman, a police-union lawyer representing Weekes, declined to give details on what happened but said his client has cooperated with investigators. \u201cHe\u2019s obviously heartbroken,\u201d Hellman said. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously more than a pet, or a dog. It\u2019s his partner.\u201d Miami Gardens police has informed prosecutors about the ongoing investigation. \u201cWe have been broadly informed of the situation and are presently awaiting receipt of specific details from the department,\u201d said State Attorney\u2019s spokesman Ed Griffith. K9 vehicles in sweltering South Florida are generally equipped with equipment specially designed to monitor temperatures for the dog. Miami-Dade police dog vehicles, for example, are outfitted with a device called \u201cK9 Heat Alarm Pro,\u201d which constantly monitors temperatures for the dogs and activates a series of loud chirps and alarms to ensure officers remove the dog at the end of a shift, or know if the temperature is too hot. This is at least the second Miami Gardens police dog to have died. In 2013, a K9 named Max died after he suffered a deep cut to his ear while searching for a burglary suspect. Razor\u2019s death isn\u2019t the first time South Florida police dogs have died in unexpected ways. Four years ago, two Hialeah police dogs \u2014 Jimmy and Hektor \u2014 died after being left in the back of a police vehicle at an officer\u2019s home in Davie. Broward prosecutors determined that Hialeah Police Officer Nelson Enriquez left the dogs in his police vehicle accidentally after a long shift searching for a missing person. To charge under Florida\u2019s animal cruelty statute, prosecutors would have had to prove Enrique \u201cintentionally left his dogs in a closed hot car.\u201d \u201cThere is no evidence to support this ghoulish proposition,\u201d Broward prosecutors wrote in a final memo on the case. Criminal charges, while rare, have been filed in cases involving cops and their police-dog partners. In 2007, Miami-Dade Police Sgt. Allen Cockfield was charged with animal cruelty after prosecutors determined a kick he administered to his German shepherd Duke during a training session was a fatal blow. Cockfield was later acquitted at trial. Then in March 2008, Miami officer Rondal Brown was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after his bloodhound Dynasty starved to death. Brown later left the police department and agreed to serve probation on animal cruelty charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Handler – Officer Ronald Weekes A Miami Gardens police dog died after being left in a hot car. An investigation is underway. An investigation is underway into the death of a Miami Gardens police dog named Razor who died after he was left in a hot vehicle, the Miami Herald has learned. Multiple law enforcement …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-7910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-k9memorial","tag-fl"],"yoast_head":"\n