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Died – 12/24/22
K-9 deputy left outside in the cold dies, buried in a different county
WJCL Investigates a K-9 Deputy in Hampton County left outside in the bitter cold. The dog died later that day, and since then, we’ve been asking the tough questions to figure out what went wrong.December 24, 2022. Christmas Eve in Hampton County, South Carolina. While most families are staying inside, sheriff’s office K-9 Levi was alone, outside in an un-heated kennel. “When I checked the weather, I think it was like 30-31 degrees that day,” Sheriff Anthony Russell told WJCL Investigates.Our meteorologists tell us temperatures plunged as low as 13 degrees that day. “They came out here twice on Christmas Eve to check on the dog, and the second time they came, the dog was dead in the kennels. And I asked about the burial, and that’s when they told me that they buried the dog,” said Russell.Without delay, and without an investigation, Sheriff Russell says K-9 Deputy Levi was unceremoniously buried on a property in Allendale, the next county over.No public statement was ever made. WJCL Investigates learned about what happened from a tip.“I am going to be open and honest with you. I’m not going to lie, I have been trying to avoid this because I was hurt by it. But at some point, the citizens need to know what happened. This happened under the prior administration, it didn’t happen on my watch,” Russell said.Sheriff Russell tells us he didn’t know until Jan. 3 — 10 days after the incident and the first business day after we filed our first Freedom of Information Act request. After waiting 10 days, Sheriff Russell told us they had lost our request. So, we refiled and waited.It wasn’t until March, when we got our lawyers involved, that deputies responded with a one-page incident report.
In it, a deputy wrote that he checked on the dog for a second time “do to cold weather,” and when he found K-9 Deputy Levi lying under his kennel, he wrote, “That didn’t seem right.”The deputy then called several top sheriff’s officials, including the then-Sheriff Thomas “T.C.” Smalls, who told them to find a place to properly bury the K-9 deputy.They settled on an ex-deputy’s land, which Sheriff Russell confirmed is in Allendale County.“When I found out about it, the dog had already been buried on someone else’s property. I’ve always questioned that, too,” Russell said. “I have to take the officer’s word on that. He said that he checked on the dog that morning, the dog was fine. He came back later on that afternoon, and the dog was dead. And the dog was not a young dog.”Kyle Briley has been a K-9 officer for nearly a decade and founded the Georgia Police K-9 Foundation, which helps police departments across the state provide top-notch services for the K-9s.The foundation says the dog and training can cost as much as $20,000. There are also necessary expenses that tack on another $10,000.Corporal Briley says he’s never heard of a K-9 death treated like this. “Typically, what happens is that there’s either an internal affairs investigation or an outside agency comes in and does some type of review or assessment or conducts an investigation to make sure everything went as what was stated,” Briley told WJCL Investigates.In Briley’s agency, if dogs are left outside, they’re checked on twice an hour.In Hampton County, Sheriff Russell says he’s implemented a new policy of checking on the dogs twice a day. “We would probably want to have a higher standard than that. And then within the Statesboro Police Department, I can tell you that wouldn’t be acceptable,” said Briley.From 2007 until January 2023, Thomas “T.C.” Smalls was the Hampton County sheriff.When we spoke with him on the phone in July, Smalls told us that he didn’t remember what took place. Our conversation didn’t go much further than that.“I ain’t answering any more questions because I don’t have the information before me,” Smalls told WJCL Investigates.“I don’t think it was right because the dog should’ve had a funeral. The dog should’ve been rewarded for his services,” said Russell.
