(WEDNESDAY, OCT. 1, 2014) AIKEN COUNTY, SC — The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office confirmed over the last week that a bomb-sniffing K9 died last summer when an officer left him in a hot car.
The death of the tan Labrador named “Cooper” was never announced to the public and no ACSO ceremony was held. The K9’s handler, Sgt. James Taylor (pictured), was demoted to deputy and placed on probation for six months as a result of the death. He eventually left the sheriff’s office in January 2014.
The Jail Report received a message about the death last week, and we asked about it.
According to an account by sheriff’s Capt. Eric Abdullah, the incident occurred on June 7, 2013.
“Deputy James Taylor, who was the K9 handler, did have that dog with him with he come to work that morning. He did leave his K9 in his patrol vehicle running but did not have on the air because when he came to work that morning it was cool weather and raining,” Capt. Abdullah said in an email statement. “That deputy did break (relief and exercise) his dog during the morning hours … The handler put the K9 back in the vehicle. Later when he returned to break his dog again, approximately 3 pm, he did notice that the dog was unresponsive at which time the dog was taken to the vet for medical assistance.”
Capt. Abdullah said the weather had gone from being cold and rainy to humid and hot on June 7, a fact he confirmed with a weather report from that day.
The 5-year-old dog was obtained from K2 Solutions Inc., a North Carolina company. He was trained as a Explosive Detection Dog. The sheriff’s captain said he does not have a file photo of Cooper, who was buried by his handler in a private ceremony.
Taylor is 32 years old and was employed at the sheriff’s office from Feb. 2008-Jan 2014.
Sheriff Michael Hunt declined The Jail Report’s request for an interview about the K9’s death.
Capt. Abdullah called the death a “tragic accident.”
“The deputy owned up to his mistake, and it was a tragic accident. It was an unfortunate accident, is what it was,” Capt. Abdullah said. .
Why wasn’t the death announced?
“It involved disciplinary action against a deputy: I don’t know if that is newsworthy,” he said. “We do consider them as (close) to being an officer. I don’t know how to respond to that as far as not putting that out.”
