http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/31/13594511-iowa-police-dog-dies-after-being-left-in-des-moines-patrol-car
 

Yeah that happened last week where I live. When I first read about the story they said the cop ran in to take care of some kind of quick thing but got side tracked with phone calls etc and just totally forgot about the dog in his car.
 
Pretty sad, man.

If anyone else kills a police dog he gets tried for killing an officer.  This guy deserves nothing less.  There is no excuse for leaving a living being trapped inside a roasting hot vehicle.

I know right!! They should atleast be smart enough to turn on the air, they should know that dogs can't do it them selfs.

Exactly bowenac and Neal, A dog is a living this too

That has to be an automatic jail sentence

OMG!  He killed a dog, lynch him!!!
 
Yes it was sad new...but wow, there are other things more pressing going on in the world to get all worked up about than some "news" story that is in it's infancy and all the facts might not be known.
 
In other news, a woman in Nebraska overfed her cat and it died of....being too fat.

This thread has gotten out of hand and several posts have been deleted. Keep this thread clean and within the rules of the EVGA forum terms of service

The key here is intent. A burglar who kicks a police dog in the neck and kills him had the intent to injure the dog. Same with a robber who shoots a police dog.

This dog was his partner, and handlers are VERY close to their dogs. I can only imagine what kind of grief he is experiencing, knowing that he accidentally killed his partner.

If he took the dog out to the park and shot it in the head, then yes... Some charges should go his way. But since there probably was no intent, let the man grieve his partner and close friend.

Bowenac

Cop should be charged with murder... But he will probably get off because he is an officer.

Then the Cop should be forced into a burning hot car to, which in some places that ppl live can get up to 130 degrees or higher.

If anything he will be confined to a desk job, no other officer is going to trust this guy with their life.  Opps I forget to hit da brake petal,  oOps,  I didn't put any bollits in da pistle.  Oh boy, my bad!

Kanti

So what does the mother get who left her child in the car and dies of heat exposure? a slap on the wrist because the grief felt is punishment enough? involuntary manslaughter should be the minimum considering police dogs are supposedly treated as people.

The mother is not always criminally charged. What matters is if there was gross negligence (proving that she put the infant in a harmful situation with careless disregard for his/her safety), or if it was a horrible accident (forgetting about the child). It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to show that the handler willfully put that dog in a harmful situation with no regard for it's safety. This looks like a horrible accident. I am simplifying this a little bit, but I hope you understand the difference.
 
There are many, but here are a couple examples of where a mother was not charged:
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/07/11/3700536/no-charges-in-death-of-lees-summit.html
http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20120807/news/308079974
 

doorules 

Come on man, intent. The cop proved himself incapable of looking after the animal who suffered an horrific death. I could care less what his intent was, only the outcome of his actions. So because he really didn't intend to torture the dog with heat then all's good. Not in my world it's not, not be a long shot. He should not be allowed near a police dog ever again.

 
Intent is a HUGE part of our legal system and very important when determining whether a crime has occurred.  Lets say you're driving down the road and obeying all traffic laws.   If a child ran in between two parked cars and in front of your car, and you killed them, you would send yourself to prison?  Even if you were obeying all laws and the child ran in front of you?  That is pretty much what you're saying.  The only thing that matters is the outcome...  The dead child.  You should go to prison for murder even though there was no intent or negligence on your part?
 
Who in this thread is even coming close to saying "all's good?"  This is a horrible tragedy.  Do you believe that the officer intended to kill his partner of 7 years by baking him in a car?  What I am saying is that this does not even remotely rise to the level of murder, and will more than likely not be charged as involuntary manslaughter, or anything else.  This officer has to live with the fact that he made a mistake that killed his partner.  This is not a slap on the wrist, and I wish that we could show him more compassion because he is a human being, and not contempt because he's a cop. 
 
 
 

I've seen one of those suv's the homeland security guys drive. And there was a dog in there the k9 units. It stopped at a crosswalk and the dog barked and scared this woman silly. I dont know what kind of dog it was.

Bowenac

When the officer shut the door of the cop car his intent was to leave the damn dog in the car... 

Uhm...no.
 
That isn't how intent works, was it his intention to let his dog die? I highly doubt that.
 
As far as leaving the A/C on in the vehicle, would that not require the keys to be in the ignition? Why would an individual leave his vehicle running unattended, when he is inside a store of some kind? Try doing that in Stockton and even a cop car will get stolen.

I didn't know dogs are allowed in stores...I can sympathize for special needs individuals with dogs trained to help with daily activities, but a Police dog isn't the same as that.
 
And don't blame me for what intent stands for, blame the justice system you stand behind, you are here typing about what you think, but it isn't how the system works.