A similar system
apparently failed to
save the life of Xena, a
Belgian Malinois police
dog that served the
Corpus Christi police.
Detectives there are
investigating the
handler's claim that the
system did not alert him
that the dog was inside
July 14. The Corpus
Christi incident is one
of several similar
police dog tragedies
around the country. A
vice president of the
Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals in Dallas called
Friday's incident
"unconscionable." "He
should be charged
criminally," said Dave
Garcia, who investigates
animal cruelty cases for
the SPCA of Texas. "If
John Q. Public did this,
they would be charged,
and so should this
officer. It's a K-9
officer. That person has
to be held to a higher
standard than anyone
else on something like
this." Neighbors of Cpl.
Garcia's said they've
never seen the officer
treat the dog with
anything but respect and
affection.
"I've seen him interact
with the dog," said Jill
Bright, who lives down
the street. "He had a
really good
relationship. He would
let kids pet the dog."
Police
K-9 Dies in Patrol Car
Corpus Christi Police
are trying to figure out
if a patrol car
malfunction caused the
death of a police dog.
The dog named Xena died
of heat exhaustion last
Wednesday while she was
locked inside officer
Robert La Rock's patrol
car. Police Chief Pete
Alvarez tells 6 News the
incident occurred while
officer La Rock was
off-duty. He says the
officer put Xena in the
patrol car, because she
was barking at some
people working at La
Rock's home. He said he
left the car running
with the air
conditioning on, but
after checking back
later he found Xena
dead. Patrol units like
La Rock's are equipped
with special alarms to
alert officers if the
car is getting too hot.
La Rock says the alarm
and the pager didn't got
off and he's not sure
what happened. The
department is conducting
an investigation of the
mishap to determine if
La Rock should be
charged with anything.
He has since uniform
division. Xena's death
has also raised some
questions with folks in
the community who take
care of animals. Sherry
Dunlap with the Corpus
Christi Animal Rights
effort takes care of all
these dogs and she was
shocked by the news of
Xena's death, "It calls
into question, are these
officers being trained
adequately for the basic
care of these animals."
Officer La Rock says he
left the car running,
with the air conditioner
on, but Dunlap says that
might not have been
enough to protect a dog
from the heat, "They
can't sweat, they don't
sweat and it's harder
for them to cool off and
when you have no air
circulating the panting
is hot air you know,
it's not effective."
Police investigators are
still trying to find out
what happened. Meanwhile
Nueces County District
Attorney Carlos Valdez,
who says Police K-9
officers receive special
training, is watching
the case closely,
"Actually they should be
setting the example on
how to treat animals and
they should be out in
the public been
reassigned to the saying
this is the way you
should treat animals,
this is the way you
shouldn't treat
animals." Animal care
givers like Dunlap
agree, they say
incidents like this
should've never had
happened in the first
place, "Why would he,
why would you even take
the chance knowing the
heat situation the way
it is, I wouldn't leave
an adult locked in a
car, much less a child
or a dog." This is the
second incident
involving a police dog
in the past month. Back
in June we showed you
the face and body
injuries to Marty. He's
a drug sniffing dog from
the Robstown Police
department that was put
into a pound. The dog
was returned to its
handler when the
injuries were deemed
self inflicted. But
Valdez is watching both
of these cases like this
closely, "If you have
another case involving
some kind of injury or
death of an animal in
the hands of a police
department in the next
month, then we'll really
have to stop everything
and let's take a look at
what's happening."
Memorials
to Fallen K-9s