Georgia K-9 dies after being left in hot patrol car for ‘unacceptable amount of time’ — dog’s handler fired

A “sweet” and “goofy” police dog in a Georgia K-9 unit died after being left in a sweltering car with a broken air conditioning unit on Sunday as the real-feel temperatures topped 100 degrees, authorities said.

The deputy charged with caring for Georgia the bloodhound was quickly canned after leaving the dog in a patrol car for “an unacceptable amount of time,” the Dade County Sheriff’s Office said in a Tuesday statement.

Georgia was the newest member of the K-9 unit after she was donated to the sheriff’s office by a local family.

“[Georgia] was an amazing bloodhound who was sweet, goofy, and had all the potential to be the “best of the best”. She will be deeply missed by everyone at our office, and by anyone who had the pleasure to meet her,” Sheriff Ray Cross wrote.

The dog’s handler apparently left the pup in their patrol car while they were inside the sheriff’s office for an extended period of time.

The deputy left the patrol car’s air conditioner compressor on, but it malfunctioned at some point and the vehicle’s faulty heat alarm didn’t activate, investigators said.

A car’s interior can reach temperatures more than 20 degrees higher than the outdoors in a matter of minutes.

The sheriff’s office assured that its K-9 policies will be “overhauled” to ensure no other police pups suffer fates like Georgia’s, including requiring that all K-9 vehicles not in working order be placed out of service.

The DCSO turned the case over to the Dade County District Attorney’s Office to see if the axed deputy could face prosecution.

Each summer, scores of children and dogs die after being left, or oftentimes forgotten, inside their caretakers’ vehicles.

Last August, a police dog named Vader in Missouri died after being left in a patrol car with a busted air conditioning unit. Another police dog named Horus had died the same way a month prior.

In the summer of 2023, a canine named Chase was also left to die in a car with faulty air conditioning on Georgia’s Cobb County — just two hours outside of Dade County.