Lovejoy has always acknowledged he made a terrible mistake when he left Bandit in his patrol car nearly seven years ago and his beloved canine partner died of the intense heat on Aug. 11, 2007.
But instead of retiring, Lovejoy chose to stay on the job long after reaching his 20 years of service, having realized he had no reason to escape a career he first dreamed about as a junior at Chandler High School.
Last week, Lovejoy assumed a leadership role in the labor group that advocates for high-ranking Chandler police officers.
Lovejoy’s election as president of the Chandler Lieutenants and Sergeants Association represents a remarkable turnaround for an officer who was arrested, charged and publicly vilified after the death of his K-9 partner.
After working too much overtime and sleeping for only 6-1/2 hours during the course of a 51-hour time period, Lovejoy returned home at 9 a.m. that day and mistakenly left Bandit in his police SUV. He found Bandit, a Belgian Malinois, dead at 10 p.m.
[Was this forced overtime or was he choosing to work $25+/hour side jobs?]
While the loss was heartbreaking and dumbfounding for Lovejoy, he realized from the start that his oversight did not rise to the level of a crime because he never intended to harm Bandit. He said he thinks about the incident every day and that no one can possibly persecute him more than himself.
“I think I am a lot more compassionate toward other people,” Lovejoy said. “It makes me much more sensitive to people’s situation.”
[If he wants to believe that he is a role model for children, he needs to remember that there are consequences to one's actions. No one was demanding that he be locked in a hot SUV for hours to suffer the same horrific death as Bandit. No one was demanding that he be thrown into a prison cell for the rest of his life.
The typical punishment for stupid, moronic 'accidents' like this is one year of unsupervised probation and after that one year - as long as he didn't pick up any new misdemeanor or felony charges, it would be wiped off his record AS THOUGH IT HAD NEVER HAPPENED.
But apparently even this is too much for this idiot. He wants to whine and complain how he was persecuted like Jesus and calls Bandit's death "heartbreaking and dumbfounding". B-o-o H-o-o.
I guess we should never prosecute drunk drivers who kill innocent people. After all, they didn't INTEND TO HARM anyone (those are Lovejoy's words). ]
Remembering how harshly he was judged by others, he also considers himself much less judgmental.
“You can let it break you or you can move forward and learn from it,” Lovejoy, 45, said. “It makes you grow up very fast and gives you a whole new outlook on life.”
During the onslaught of attacks, “I thought some days, wouldn’t it be nice not to be in spotlight,” he said. He fantasized about moving to a small Midwestern town in the middle of nowhere and even checked out properties on a website, but eventually decided that was the wrong choice.
“You have to set a good example for the children,” said Lovejoy, who has two daughters, a stepson and two granddaughters. “It’s perseverance. You have to deal with them (problems). You can’t put your head in the sand.”
Now, Lovejoy has a new mission of sorts as an association president, helping other officers in trouble after withstanding an Internal Affairs investigation that documented three days of his life and a slew of nasty comments on websites.
The worst fallout from the incident, however, might have been a telephone message from a caller who told Tom’s wife, Carolynn, that he was planning to kidnap their children and put them in a car trunk to suffocate, so that they can understand how Bandit suffered.
“You can’t reason with the unreasonable,” Carolynn Lovejoy said, recalling how she also called a radio talk-show host who was ripping her husband to set him straight. “I was watching my husband in a pile. He was a train wreck.’’
She knew how much her husband loved Bandit, his partner, buddy and family member. She knew he would never intentionally hurt Bandit.
“I was jealous about how well that dog was treated,” Carolynn Lovejoy said. “I knew how obsessive he was about that dog.”
[She needs to shut her face.]
So Tom Lovejoy was one of the few people who could appreciate exactly how Department of Public Safety Officer Korey Lankow felt two years ago when he made the same mistake.
 |
| How nice. Lovejoy and Lankow can bond over what their dead K-9 partners looked like after they were "forgotten" to die horrible deaths in their police vehicles |
Even before Lovejoy assumed his new role, he drove to Tucson to console Lankow, who left his police dog, Jeg, behind on July 11, 2012, while responding to a serious automobile accident on Interstate 19. Lankow had switched cars and transferred his gear but somehow he managed to forget Jeg.
“Tom ran down to see the guy right away,” Carolynn Lovejoy said. “Tom walked through the door and the guy went to pieces. He said, ‘Tom, I was one of your worst critics. I beat you up because I could not understand how you could do that.
“ ‘Well, God just showed me how you could do it,’ ” she quoted Lankow as saying.
 |
| Korey Lankow "forgot" K-9 Jeg behind and left him to cook inside his police vehicle |
Lankow, who declined to be interviewed, received a letter of reprimand from DPS and attended an animal sensitivity class as part of a diversion program ordered by a Tucson Municipal Court judge. A misdemeanor charge of providing an animal no ventilation was dismissed, according to court records.
Lovejoy was investigated by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and found not guilty of misdemeanor animal-cruelty charges in August 2008. A judge found him negligent but not reckless, a requirement on the cruelty charge.
Carolynn Lovejoy remembers letting out a gasp of relief in the courtroom. Tom Lovejoy said he felt vindicated and that the verdict was a vital part of his healing process.
[Wow, he's "healing". Bandit isn't healing. He's rotting in a hole in the ground.]
Sgt. Keith Benjamin, who led the association for a decade before stepping aside in January in preparation for his retirement this fall, said Lovejoy’s unique experience dealing with the controversy and his deep roots in Chandler will serve him well in the position.
“I think someone who is not as strong-willed as him would say, ‘I’m packing it in,’ ” Benjamin said. “He’s the perfect person to take my spot.”
Lovejoy said his experience gives him insight into how city disciplinary processes work. He said he relishes the opportunity to help others not only in his association position, but in his job as administrative sergeant, obtaining the best equipment possible for officers and good assignments on light duty for injured officers or those recovering from medical conditions.
“I gained a great deal of experience out of that time,” Lovejoy said. “It has allowed me to be effective in this position.”
(AZ Central - Jan 15, 2014)
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