A preliminary investigation indicates K-9 Serge died from heat exposure after the car’s air conditioning malfunctioned, police officials said Friday.
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| K9 Serge, shown here, was left to cook in a police car |
Serge’s handler, Officer Gabriel Rodriguez, found the dog in the cruiser around 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson said. The temperature that day reached a high of 92 degrees shortly before 3 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
“We are extremely saddened by the sudden and unexpected death of K-9 Serge,” Thomson said in an email. “Serge was part of our departmental family and served our community bravely.”
Thomson added that a “comprehensive investigation is under way.”
Additional details were not provided Friday, including any information on where the squad car was parked or how long the dog was in the car.
Serge, a blond German shepherd, had been with the department for only a few months. The dog and Rodriguez were part of a class that graduated in May after 16 weeks of training at a facility in Egg Harbor Township.
Serge was one of at least two active K-9s on Camden’s police roster. Cpl. Zsakheim James has been partnered with Zero for several years. At one point, Camden’s K-9 corps had 20 dogs and trained handlers.
Police said the K-9 had already made an impact. Within the first two weeks of his deployment, Serge was involved in a bank robbery investigation in Mount Ephraim, where he led police to clothing and a backpack that had apparently been ditched by the robber.
Serge was scheduled to return to school, police said, this time for narcotics-detection training.
(Courier-Post - August 11, 2012)
