Cincinnati police dog left in hot car dies

[OhioChick]

Posted: 2:04 PM

CINCINNATI - The Cincinnati Police Department is mourning the death of one of its narcotics dogs who died after being left in a hot vehicle.

Police say Specialist Brian Trotta was responding to a family medical emergency on Thursday and inadvertently left his canine Juno unattended in the vehicle.

The city has been under a heat emergency for most of the week with temperatures soaring into the upper 90s.

Juno was the first female German shepherd added to the department in July 2009.

Trotta is a 13-year veteran of the department and has been assigned to the canine unit since April 2009. He has been placed on administrative leave.

The incident remains under investigation.

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/state/cincinnati-police-dog-left-in-hot-car-dies

Awwww.....:(

[derby378]

1. Well, well, well...

As bad as I feel for poor Juno, when my beloved wife died, our cats still received food, water, and decent living conditions.

If that cop can't multitask, he has no business carrying a badge and a gun.

[get the red out]

2. OMG, that dog would have taken a bullet for him

I hurt when I read stories like this. :cry:

[tularetom]

3. So he "inadvertently" left the dog in the vehicle?

Bullshit. He was negligent.

Leaving aside the animal cruelty aspect of the incident, the taxpayers had a considerable investment in the training care and feeding of the dog.

Anybody who cannot separate his personal problems from his job has no business being a police officer.

At the very least he should be terminated. For the cruelty he should do time.

It's unbelievable how stupid people are when it comes to leaving dogs in cars. A few years ago I was involved in an incident with a young woman who left a small dog in her car with all the windows rolled up in front of Trader Joe's here in the 100+ heat of the Central Valley in July. On the back of her car was a "Veterinarian" license plate frame.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I hope they don't give this officer another dog.

How do you "inadvertently" leave a dog in a hot car? Poor dog.

[Mariana]

20. I hope they put this officer in jail

like they would anyone else who killed a police dog. They won't, though.

[tblue37]

21. I drove my old cat to the vet and back today in my air-conditioned car.

By the time we got home, she was stressed and panting heavily from the heat. I had to dmpen her fur, aim fans toward her, and position a large bag of ice nearby so the fans could blow even cooler air on her--even though my apartment is heavily air-conditioned, too.

Animals suffer even more from the heat than we do. A dog can't sweat except through its tongue and footpads, and it is covered with fur, so it doesn't have the evaporation/cooling apparatus that our bodies have.

That poor thing suffered terribly before it died.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. awful

[Pool Hall Ace]

6. Exactly what would Officer Trotta had done

if he had responded to a call for a dog left in a hot car?

Remove Trotta from the canine unit. Better yet, give him a nice, easy desk job.

RIP Juno :cry:

[beam me up scottie]

7. Juno died believing her partner would come back for her.

That is the real crime, training a dog to love and trust you so much that she would die for you, and then letting her down in the worst possible way.

Humans suck.

[AnneD]

14. Very well spoken....

It gets to the crux of the matter. Here in Houston, every one should be well aware-no one gets left in the car. Everyone is admonished to check the back seat before you lock the door. This dog was highly trained and could have been taken out and gone with the officer. This just breaks my heart.

[slampoet]

15. I live two blocks from a police shop and have a 40 minute response time. I know how Juno feels.

[xchrom]

8. How do you forget your police dog?

I've had family emergencies but my animals were taken care of.

[ThomCat]

10. Yes, exactly. Animals are cared for like family.

You don't forget family. In a family emergency you make sure everyone in the family is safe. Everyone! That includes the furry members of the family. :(

[ThomCat]

9. What a horrible way for a dedicated, loyal parter to die.

:cry:

I hope they reassign this guy out of the canine unit. He should never again be trusted with a dog. Ever!

:grr:

[MissDeeds]

11. This is inexcusable

I hope they throw the book at the cop. I'm a huge fan of law enforcement as my uncle was a police officer and my brother is a chief of police, but wrong is wrong. God, how that poor animal must have suffered.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[Electric Monk]

17. Does killing a police dog come with the same punishment as killing an actual policeman?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081228011640AAIltfp

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_punishment_for_killing_a_police_officer

[amborin]

12. so sad! and inexcusable; it can happen so quickly and people are constantly warned about this

[okieinpain]

13. he should be treated just like anybody else that hurts a police dog

[Mariana]

19. He should be, but he won't be. It just doesn't work that way.

In fact, he already hasn't been treated just like anyone else. Anyone else that killed a police dog would have been arrested and charged. He gets time off work instead.

[Mendocino]

16. A police dog is in essence an officer.

You call in, you request another officer to respond and take the dog. If one isn't available a desk officer, EMS, firefighter, whoever must be dispatched. Call the local humane society, ASPCA, someone. I find it hard to believe that someone in the the time it takes me to post this couldn't have made that call.

[onethatcares]

18. damn it, open the windows on both sides

I'm sorry, I was gonna make a snarky remark but then I looked down at the three dogs I own.

They don't think too highly of officer gotta family emergency at this point.

[RamboLiberal]

22. I feel sorry for Juno

And IMHO this officer should be taken off K9 force. But people do forget animals & children in cars. It's not always a crime. The cop was under some stress with his 6 year old son in some kind of family emergency. Again as I encouraged last month when forgotten children was a topic and some were calling parents idiots & criminals - read this Pulitzer article from the Washingtom Post.

Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549.html

[rebecca_herman]

25. His child is in the hospital being treated for cancer

Apparently he was called to the hospital because of a medical crisis with the child. If that is true I could honestly see how it could slip his mind. If he thought his child might be dying.

[proteus_lives]

29. They don't care.

[rebecca_herman]

30. sad, isn't it?

I certainly think it's sad what happened, but it's also quite sad that people don't understand that someone might forget about a dog because their child MIGHT BE DYING FROM A BRAIN TUMOR. I wish I lived in this world of apparently perfect people who would never possibly lose their mind because their child was deathly ill and in a medical crisis.

[Pool Hall Ace]

34. I am not without compassion for what the officer is going through.

Back in 2001, I was my mother's primary caregiver when she was dying of cancer. I was also holding down a full-time job, and I also had a dog. I was able to compartmentalize and tend to work responsibilities, take my mother to chemo and radiation treatments (and even transport her for a few ER visits), visit her while she was in the hospital, run the household, and yes . . . care for the dog.

In fact, I still have that dog. He's on the chair next to me, snoozing peacefully.

The point is that dogs are family members. A police dog is not only part of the family, but a highly-trained partner.

If the officer cannot remember to entrust the care of that highly-trained partner while he tends to a family emergency, he has no business being part of the canine unit.

[Maru Kitteh]

23. Fuckin' asshole. I just don't give a flying rats behind about anyones "excuses."

I hate, hate hate hate abusers.

[proteus_lives]

27. Yeah, a kid in the hospital is just a "excuse"

What an asshole, he forgot everything because of worry for his child.

You can judge of course, you are obviously beyond such human error.

[JonLP24]

24. My question is

Are they going to charge him like he left a policeman in the car? Suspects if they injure a police dog, they get the same penalties if they injured a policeman?

[Vickers]

26. If he's anything like every professional dog handler I've ever met, he's devastated.

I would bet that Spec. Trotta considers Juno one of his kids (or maybe even *more* than that).

Peace to all involved.

Gentle passage to Juno.

[Violet_Crumble]

33. I was thinking the same thing n/t

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[seabeyond]

31. the hypocrisy on compassion is truly amazing. i see it in so many different ways on du

different subjects. no consistency. i wonder if people live this way or it is just knee jerk computer talk.

[JonLP24]

32. Never mind

I'll leave it alone.

[Brickbat]

35. Gah, that poor guy. Knowing K9 officers, I'm sure he's devastated; how awful to have to deal with

that on top of everything else.