COBB COUNTY, Ga. (WJBF) – The Cobb County Police Department is investigating the death of a Cobb County Police K-9 that occurred at a high school on Monday, June 5th, just after 2 p.m.
According to the Cobb County Police Department Facebook Page, officers were attending scheduled active shooter training at the school when K-9 Chase was found unresponsive in the patrol vehicle by K-9 Officer Neill.
Life-saving measures were started by Officer Neill, other Cobb Officers, and Cobb County Fire personnel (also attending the active shooter training); K-9 Chase was then transported to a nearby emergency veterinarian clinic. But the efforts were not enough to save him, and he succumbed to his heat-related injuries.
Officers had been at training since 11 a.m. and had been checking on their K-9 partners on the hour for 15-minute breaks between each 45-minute training session.
At some point after the previous check, the air conditioning system malfunctioned in Officer Neill’s patrol vehicle.
Preliminary information indicates that other safety systems did not properly activate and the temperature quickly rose in the vehicle.
K-9 Chase will be transported to the University of Georgia for a necropsy.
Chase was a Belgian malinois born in Hungary on August 13, 2018.
He began his career with the Cobb County Police Department in April 2020 with his handler K-9 Officer Neill.
Chase was a dual-purpose K-9 trained for narcotics detection, criminal apprehension, tracking, building searches, and evidence recovery. He named after fallen Locust Grove Police Officer Chase Maddox, who died in the line of duty on February 9, 2018, just months before K-9 Chase was born.
