Police Dog Dies After Cop Leaves Him in Hot Squad Car

Following a day of undercover work, a Southaven police officer drove his squad car back to the station. When he went inside, he left his partner, a six-year-old K-9 officer named Gunner, in the car. He returned two hours later to find Gunner on the brink of death. By the time they got to the animal hospital, it was too late.

Please sign this petition demanding that the Southaven Police Department take stronger disciplinary action against the officer and implement mandatory training for all officers working with dogs.

Southaven's K-9 unit cars are supposed to have safety equipment installed that keeps the air on and the car locked. If the car gets too hot, the officer is supposed to be notified. For some reason, Gunner’s car did not have the safety equipment installed.

Leaving a dog in a hot car is notoriously dangerous. In fact, many states have animals cruelty laws around leaving dogs in cars and immunity provisions for people who rescue dogs from hot cars because the risk of death is so high. Even though Mississippi does not have such laws, the officer should have been aware of the risk he was taking by leaving Gunner inside the car for two hours without safety equipment installed in the car.

This was neglect, pure and simple.

Please join in demanding Justice for Gunner by signing this petition demanding that the Southaven Police Department take appropriate action against the officer and implement mandatory training for dog handlers to avoid tragedies like this from occurring in the future.