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Died 7/31/24
Handler – Officer Timothy Mayberry
Arnold Police dog dies from heat exhaustion
An Arnold Police dog named Vader died from complication of heat exhaustion on Wednesday, July 31, the Police Department reported. Arnold Police Chief Brian Carroll said in a written statement today, Aug. 1, that the dog was left in a patrol vehicle with the engine running and the air conditioning on. However, at some point, the air-conditioning system stopped working and a safety system in the vehicle that’s supposed to alert the officer that the vehicle is getting too hot malfunctioned. When Vader’s partner, Arnold Police Officer Timothy Mayberry, returned to the vehicle, he discovered the air-conditioning system had malfunctioned and Vader appeared to be suffering from heat exhaustion. Vader, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, was transported to the Arnold Animal Hospital where he showed signs of improvement. The police dog was then taken to Veterinary Specialty Services, a 24-hour clinic in Manchester, but died later the same day, the report said. Carroll said Vader had been with the department since 2021.As of today, Arnold Police were investigating the incident, looking into what Mayberry was doing when the patrol vehicle’s air conditioning stopped working and the alert system malfunctioned. The department also is investigating what caused the malfunction, Carroll said. He said it is “necessary and common practice” for a police dog to be left alone in a running vehicle when the dog is not actively engaged in police work. “All Arnold Police Department K-9 vehicles are equipped with a system that notifies the handler by phone, sounds the vehicle horn, activates cooling fans and rolls down the vehicle windows if the vehicle temperature increases to a certain level,” Carroll said in the statement. “In this instance, the heat alarm system failed to activate. Carroll said Arnold Police were notified Wednesday night that Vader died. “Please keep Vader’s handler, his family and the members of the (Arnold Police Department) in your thoughts and prayers as we mourn the loss of our K-9 partner,” Caroll said in his written statement. He said Arnold Police have two other police dogs, adding that as of this afternoon, there had not been any discussion about getting another police dog.
