Former Cocoa officer avoids charges after K-9 left in hot police car for hours found dead

COCOA, Fla. – A previous Cocoa law enforcement officer is not going through costs in relationship with the death of a K-9 named Zena just about a calendar year following she was uncovered dead in the back of her handler’s hot vehicle, in accordance to an update delivered by the Condition Attorney’s Office environment in Brevard County.

The 2-calendar year-aged K-9 was located lifeless on June 23, 2021 when her handler went to check on her in the course of a instruction course in Melbourne, division officers said suitable following the incident happened. On obtaining the useless dog, the handler stated, “She’s lifeless!” “I informed them so!”

[TRENDING: Frontier shares photo of baby delivered mid-flight on plane heading to Orlando | Florida Farm Bureau wants to raise your homeowner’s insurance 49% | Become a News 6 Insider (it’s free!)]

Ad

Todd Brown, a spokesperson with the Condition Attorney’s Place of work in Brevard County, explained to Information 6 on Thursday:

Information 6 gained a statement from Cocoa Police Chief Evander Collier on Thursday, expressing that he proposed the officer be suspended with out pay back ahead of Gonzalez ultimately resigned.

The incident happened in the parking good deal of Jap Florida State College’s police academy on a approximately 90-diploma working day, Melbourne law enforcement explained at the time.

The investigation found the car’s crisis alarm and fan never ever turned on and Officer Viera Gonzalez, who was in charge of the doggy, waited much more than four several hours right before eventually returning to the parking great deal.

Melbourne law enforcement claimed Gonzalez also manufactured feedback about how he was knowledgeable the motor vehicle had a heritage of mechanical difficulties. Another K-9 officer said the 2014 Chevy Caprice was a spare law enforcement car and not the common K-9 motor vehicle Gonzalez drove. That officer explained the standard vehicle’s emergency cooling technique could operate even when the motor vehicle was turned off, but for the spare vehicle, it did not perform unless the vehicle was operating.

Ad

Following a health practitioner claimed K-9 Zena probably died from a warmth stroke, a Melbourne police investigation advised an animal cruelty cost against the officer accountable for caring for the Belgian Malinois.

‘’Canine Zena was unnecessarily tormented and killed,’’ the report reads.

Officers reported they inspected the K-9 officer’s car or truck the following working day at the police making on Babcock Road just before it was impounded.

“The Cocoa Law enforcement Section is heartbroken to announce the passing of our latest patrol pet dog K-9 Zena,” the agency wrote in a information launch previous year.

When the cost of animal cruelty was encouraged, the Condition Attorney’s Business resolved not to prosecute. The point out attorney’s business office also instructed Information 6 that Cocoa law enforcement eliminated the officer from its K-9 device.