New Orleans K-9 "Primo" Died From Heat After Being Locked In Cruiser
- by: The Humane Society of Louisiana and Animal Rescue Front
- recipient: Nationwide
Officer Lewis' actions clearly violate multiple felony provisions of the Louisiana Criminal Code. Louisiana R.S. 14.102.1 B. (1) states that: "Any person who intentionally or with criminal negligence tortures, maims, or mutilates any living animal, whether belonging to himself or another, shall be guilty of aggravated cruelty to animals" (emphasis added). Not only did Officer Lewis' commit animal cruelty, he violated an additional felony criminal law that specifically protects police animals like Primo from such abuse. Louisiana R.S. 14. 102.8 (D) provides: "Whosoever commits the crime of injuring or killing of a police animal shall be fined not less then two thousand five hundred dollars nor more than three thousand five hundred dollars, or imprisoned with or without hard labor or not less than one year nor more than three years, or both."
It is a substantial breach of public trust for a civil servant like Officer Lewis to violate the very laws we depend on police officers to enforce. Within the next few days, we will be updating additional information on this case on our website, http://www.humanela.org/. We are committed to seeing justice for Primo prevail:
We, the undersigned, urge the Orleans parish DA's Office to investigate and prosecute NOPD Officer Jason Lewis for the May 27th, 2009 death of Primo, a 6-year-old member of the NOPD K-9 unit. According to public documents, Officer Lewis knowingly and intentionally locked Primo in an unattended police vehicle when temperatures exceeded 88 degrees. As a result of Officer Lewis' actions, Primo suffered three seizures before succumbing to heat exhaustion and dying.
Officer Lewis' actions clearly violated multiple felony provisions of the Louisiana criminal code. Louisiana R.S. 14:102.1 B (1) states that: "Any person who intentionally or with criminal negligence tortures, maims, or mutilates any living animal, whether belonging to himself or another, shall be guilty of aggravated cruelty to animals." Not only did Officer Lewis commit animal cruelty, he violated an additional felony criminal law that specifically protects police animals like Primo from such abuse. Louisiana R.S. 14. 102.8 (D) provides: "Whosoever commits the crime of injuring or killing of a police animal shall be fined not less than two thousand five hundred dollars nor more than three thousand five hundred dollars, or imprisoned with or without hard labor or not less than one year nor more than three years, or both."
It is a substantial breach of public trust for a civil servent like Officer Lewis to violate the very laws we depend on police officers to enforce. We are committed to seeing justice for Primo prevail.
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