The Dade County Sheriff's Office said one of its K-9s died Sunday in a hot patrol car whose air conditioning failed. K-9 Georgia's handled has been terminated and the case has been turned over to the District Attorney's Office.
The Sheriff's Office gave this explanation:
On July 13th, we tragically lost our newest member of our K-9 team; K-9 Georgia.
On
July 13th, 2025 the heat index in Trenton was around 100 to 102 degrees.
Georgia’s Handler was inside the Sheriff’s Office, while Georgia was in her patrol car. Unfortunately, a combination of the following factors caused K-9 Georgia to pass away inside the vehicle’s kennel.
The Sheriff’s Office immediately launched an investigation into the incident. What we found was that the air conditioner compressor on the patrol unit malfunctioned while K-9 Georgia’s Handler was inside the Sheriff’s Office, requiring total replacement of the compressor. The patrol vehicle was also equipped with a heat alarm that was not functioning. Those previous two factors, coupled with K-9 Georgia being left unattended for what we considered to be an unacceptable amount of time, contributed to her passing.
How will we make sure this never happens again?
Going forward, any K-9 vehicle we have will be taken out of service if ANY of the essential K-9 equipment isn’t in 100 percent working order. We are also going to overhaul our K-9 handler policy, and K-9’s WILL NOT be left in vehicles for extended periods of time during summer.
At the direction of Sheriff Cross, K-9 Georgia’s handler is no longer an employee of Dade County Sheriff’s Office, and this entire incident will be turned over to the Dade County District Attorney’s Office to determine if prosecution is warranted in this particular case.
We will be 100 percent transparent about this incident! After we get a decision from the Dade County District Attorney’s Office about prosecution, we will know what additional details we can (or cannot) release.
Our hearts are aching at the loss of K-9 Georgia. Many of you know that she was donated to us by a local family, at no cost to the sheriff’s office. She was an amazing bloodhound who was sweet, goofy, and had all the potential to be the “best of the best”. She will be deeply missed by everyone at our office, and by anyone who had the pleasure to meet her.