Police Officer Accused Of Leaving Police Dog In Hot Patrol Car, Killing It

[Purveyor]

PHOENIX (AP) - A suburban police officer is accused of leaving a police dog in a patrol car for more than 12 hours on a 109-degree day, killing the animal.

Chandler police Sgt. Tom Lovejoy was booked into the Maricopa County jail on a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty after a two-week investigation into the death of a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois named Bandit. He was released later Wednesday, said Capt. Paul Chagolla, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

The sheriff's investigation showed Bandit was in Lovejoy's patrol car from about 9 a.m. to shortly after 10 p.m. Aug. 11. During that time, the investigation found, the officer ran errands, napped and ate out with his wife. Lovejoy later found the dog dead in the car.

"I am certain Sgt. Lovejoy has suffered greatly from leaving his police dog in a sweltering car," Sheriff Joe Arpaio said in a statement. "I do not relish the idea of compounding his sadness. However, Lovejoy must be treated like anyone else in similar circumstances."

Lovejoy said Wednesday night that he is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 25 and that his lawyer advised him not to comment further.

"With the sheriff railing on me right now, it's kind of hard to say anything," Lovejoy said.

---EOE---

http://www.komotv.com/news/national/9615272.html

[flvegan]

1. 9am to 10pm, while he "ran errands, napped and ate out with his wife"

Nice guy. Hope he gets the max, asshole.

[tularetom]

2. Oh ho - Sheriff Joe Arpaio the "toughest sheriff in America"

He's the guy who makes the prisoners live in tents and wear pink underwear and feeds them sandwiches with moldy bread and green salami. This should be interesting. "Sheriff Joe" is an animal lover even if he hates people. Wonder if Sgt Lovejoy's gonna be laying around in his tent in his pink skivies?

[Virginia Dare]

3. Strip him of his job..

and make him reimburse the county for the cost of training and replacing the dog. What a useless jerk.

[RufusEarl]

4. "I do not relish the idea of compounding his sadness"

Then get the hell out of the way and let someone else do it! Harming a police dog is the same a harming a police officer, that's way i've understood it?

But i'll wait for the hearing before passing judgment, no i want! If this dumb ass left his police dog in the car for 12 hours what does that say about him, to leave any animal in a car for 12 straight hours is cruel.

[CrispyQ]

5. He should lose his job.

He's supposed to serve & protect.

"I am certain Sgt. Lovejoy has suffered greatly from leaving his police dog in a sweltering car," Sheriff Joe Arpaio said in a statement.

Yeah, right, he suffered greatly while napping & doing errands. I'm writing a letter today. This asshole should lose his job.

[kimmylavin]

6. "Compounding his sadness"???

Any fool knows you're not supposed to leave a dog in a hot car for 20 minutes, let alone hours!
And his quote - "with the sheriff railing on me"? Oh poor, put-upon you.
He knew exactly what he was doing, and this was SELFISHNESS, not sadness. Any sadness stems from the fact that the stupid dog got him in trouble by dying.

And as far as I know, doesn't this case count as "cop killing", given the status of the dog?

[Bryn]

7. Leave the dog in rolled up windows?

I have a service dog. I would never never leave her in a car with all windows rolled up at all, not even a crack. If I have to run in a store for a quick pick up something, windows are always rolled all the way down and never leave her for more than 15 minutes, she always has a cup of fresh water in front of her. No one would try to take her out of my car because alarm system would go off even with windows rolled down and also she's a big dog, part german shepard, part rott. He must be an idiot.