A Miami Gardens police dog died after being left in a hot car. An investigation is underway.
An investigation is underway into the death of a Miami Gardens police dog named Razor who died after he was left in a hot vehicle, the Miami Herald has learned.
Multiple law enforcement sources say the department’s internal affairs unit has launched a probe into Miami Gardens Officer Ronald Weekes after his dog died in mid-November.
The department has kept the dog’s death quiet. Miami Gardens police spokesman Carlos Austin declined to comment on Tuesday, saying there “is an open investigation into this incident, therefore no information can be given at this time.”
The police chief’s office, however, notified fellow officers that Razor died.
“K9 Razor was part of the City of Miami Gardens family for a short time, nevertheless his dedication and service shall never be forgotten!” Chief Delma Noel-Pratt said in an internal email to the department on Nov. 15. “To our K9 team, especially Officer Ronald Weekes, you have my deepest condolences. In time, we will honor K9 Razor.”
The email, obtained by the Miami Herald, did not mention any circumstances of Razor’s death or the internal affairs probe.
Law enforcement sources told the Miami Herald that Razor was still in training before his death, and Weekes had not yet been certified as a K9 officer. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, three Miami Gardens police officers have voluntary certifications with their police dogs — and Weekes and Razor are not among them.
Many details about Razor’s death remained unclear. One source told the Miami Herald that something went wrong with Weekes’ air-conditioning system.
“Something happened in the vehicle,” the source said. “Whether it was turned off or mechanical is being investigated.”
Mike Hellman, a police-union lawyer representing Weekes, declined to give details on what happened but said his client has cooperated with investigators.
“He’s obviously heartbroken,” Hellman said. “It’s obviously more than a pet, or a dog. It’s his partner.”
Miami Gardens police has informed prosecutors about the ongoing investigation.
“We have been broadly informed of the situation and are presently awaiting receipt of specific details from the department,” said State Attorney’s spokesman Ed Griffith.
K9 vehicles in sweltering South Florida are generally equipped with equipment specially designed to monitor temperatures for the dog.
Miami-Dade police dog vehicles, for example, are outfitted with a device called “K9 Heat Alarm Pro,” which constantly monitors temperatures for the dogs and activates a series of loud chirps and alarms to ensure officers remove the dog at the end of a shift, or know if the temperature is too hot.
This is at least the second Miami Gardens police dog to have died. In 2013, a K9 named Max died after he suffered a deep cut to his ear while searching for a burglary suspect.
Razor’s death isn’t the first time South Florida police dogs have died in unexpected ways.
Other fatalities
Four years ago, two Hialeah police dogs — Jimmy and Hektor — died after being left in the back of a police vehicle at an officer’s home in Davie.
Broward prosecutors determined that Hialeah Police Officer Nelson Enriquez left the dogs in his police vehicle accidentally after a long shift searching for a missing person. To charge under Florida’s animal cruelty statute, prosecutors would have had to prove Enrique “intentionally left his dogs in a closed hot car.”
“There is no evidence to support this ghoulish proposition,” Broward prosecutors wrote in a final memo on the case.
Criminal charges, while rare, have been filed in cases involving cops and their police-dog partners.
In 2007, Miami-Dade Police Sgt. Allen Cockfield was charged with animal cruelty after prosecutors determined a kick he administered to his German shepherd Duke during a training session was a fatal blow. Cockfield was later acquitted at trial.
Then in March 2008, Miami officer Rondal Brown was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after his bloodhound Dynasty starved to death. Brown later left the police department and agreed to serve probation on animal cruelty charges.
