Georgia police K9 dies after being left in hot patrol car with faulty AC

A Georgia police K9 died Monday after being left inside an overheated patrol car with faulty air conditioning.

Chase, a canine with the Cobb County Police Department, was left in the vehicle outside Allatoona High School while his handler, identified only as Officer Neill, was undergoing active-shooter training, police said on Facebook.

When Neill checked on the pup shortly after 2 p.m. he found the dog unresponsive in the hot vehicle — after investigators said the car’s air-conditioning malfunctioned.

“Life-saving measures were started by Officer Neill, other Cobb Officers and Cobb County Fire personnel,” according to the department’s statement.

“K9 Chase was then transported to a nearby emergency veterinarian clinic,” it said. “But the efforts were not enough to save him and he succumbed to his heat-related injuries.”

Neill and other Cobb County first responders had been in training since 11 a.m., with K9 officers checking on their dogs hourly during 15-minute breaks throughout the day, the department said.

“At some point after the previous check the air conditioning system malfunctioned in Officer Neill’s patrol vehicle,” it said. “Preliminary information indicates that other safety systems did not properly activate and the temperature quickly rose in the vehicle.”

Chase was due to undergo an autopsy at the University of Georgia.

In a follow-up Facebook post, police said that K9s are kept in a kennel in the back of patrol cars which are equipped with temperature control systems and include a spill-proof water bowl.

When the handler leaves their dog inside the vehicle, it’s left running with the temperature adjusted.

If the air conditioning fails the system is supposed to send out an alert that turns on the car’s lights and sirens, automatically lowers the windows and turns on a fan, police said.

“Unfortunately, this vehicle had multiple failures,” the post said. “The alert system did not activate and the handler was not alerted about an issue until they returned to the vehicle to check on the canine.”