K9 Died After Being Left In Hot Car For Nearly 8 Hours: Chief

COLUMBIA, SC — A South Carolina police officer was suspended without pay for five days following the death of his K9 who was left unattended in a car for nearly eight hours, Columbia police chief Skip Holbrook said.

Holbrook provided an update Wednesday on the investigation into the death of the dog, a 2-year-old Labrador Retriever named Turbo.

Turbo's handler, officer David Hurt, has been with the Columbia police department for seven years. Holbrook said that on July 26, Hurt was participating in an active shooter training at a high school. Hurt brought Turbo to the training, leaving him in his SUV with the rear windows lowered and the air conditioning turned on. Holbrook also said the car was parked under a covered awning and other K9s had also been left in cars in the area.

According to Holbrook, Hurt deactivated the heat alarm in his car and didn't check on Turbo the entire time he was at the school, from about 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Around 11:30 a.m., Hurt asked another officer who was going to get his lunch to check on Turbo and the officer said Turbo was fine.

After the training ended around 3 p.m., Hurt stayed at the school for some "administrative cleaning up" before returning to his car around 3:30 p.m. Hurt noticed that Turbo was panting heavily, foaming at the mouth and was unstable on his feet.

He was taken to the animal hospital but had to be euthanized soon after due to organ failure. According to Holbrook, the temperature on July 26 was a low of 71 and a high of 93.

In addition to being suspended without pay for five days, Hurt was permanently removed from being a K9 officer and was suspended from the bomb unit for six months.

Holbrook said Hurt not checking on the dog throughout the day and deactivating the heat alarm were "mistakes." He added that there was no reasonable explanation why he didn't check on the dog throughout the day. Holbrook also said that Hurt received over 200 hours of training when he became a K9 handler in January.

According to The State, the review concluded that there was no criminal intent in Turbo's death and Hurt will not be facing criminal charges.

Hurt's conduct was egregious but Holbrook said the officer was very emotionally attached to the dog and he recognized where he failed.

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