2 reassigned after Pennsylvania police dog left in hot car
Updated 1 hr 42 mins ago
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Two law enforcement officers have been reassigned after a Pennsylvania police dog that was left in a hot car died hours later.
The state corrections secretary on Thursday said Totti's handler and his supervisor have non-canine duties at the State Correctional Institution in Rockview.
Pennlive.com reports an investigation determined Totti was unconscious but alive after being left unattended in a hot vehicle for three hours on July 7.
The drug-sniffing dog was rushed to a veterinarian, but died from a heat-related seizure.
Corrections secretary John Wetzel says a senior corrections officer with military canine experience has been assigned to lead the drug interdiction unit.
An internal disciplinary review will be conducted to determine whether disciplinary action will be taken against the officers involved.
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K-9 Totti (Pa. Department of Corrections)
Police dog was in hot car for two hours before death
By Lizzy Hardison | ehardison@pennlive.comon July 12, 2016 at 11:24 AM, updated July 13, 2016 at 2:45 PM
A fact-finding investigation has been started into the death of a drug-detecting dog that died after being mistakenly left in a hot car for two and a half hours by its handler, the state Department of Corrections has confirmed.
The 2-year-old yellow lab named Totti was left in the vehicle during a training exercise at the state prison at Rockview, near Bellefonte, said Amy Worden, corrections spokeswoman. Totti was a member of the state Department of Corrections Drug Interdictions Unit.
Worden said that the dog's handler, Sgt. Chad Holland, had stored training items in a vehicle at the end of a training exercise at 12:15 p.m and didn't realize until 2:44 p.m. that the dog was locked in the car. When they removed the dog from the vehicle, the dog handlers and other Drug Interdiction Unit staff tried to cool Totti with a water hose and ice.
Totti was conscious when he was transported to a nearby veterinary clinic at 2:58 p.m. By 4 p.m., his body temperature had stabilized but his creatine levels and heart rate remained high, Worden said. He died at 7:30 p.m.
"Everyone involved was incredibly and understandably upset and concerned for the dog," said the statement issued by the department. "Unfortunately the dog did not survive. This has been very devastating for everyone involved.
Worden confirmed that Holland is the dog's handler and that Capt. Scott Vangorder is head of the Drug Interdiction Unit K-9 Academy.
Pa. Dept. of Corrections investigating death of its K9
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections is investigating the July 7 death of one of its drug interdiction dogs that was accidentally left locked in a vehicle after a training exercise at Rockview State Correctional Institute.
This is the first such incident since the inception of the department's Drug Interdiction Unit, according to the statement issued by the department. The department has 22 handlers and dogs and is in the process of moving its K-9 training facility from the boot camp to the Rockview prison. She said that the director of the Drug Interdiction Unit had met with handlers to review dog care and discuss safeguard technologies to prevent similar incidents in the future