Latest Hot-Car Death: Police Dog Left in Patrol Car

The latest reminder that a momentary lapse can have deadly consequences comes via a Belgian Malinois named Inka, a K-9 police dog in Cherokee County, Ga., who died Friday after accidentally being left in a patrol car. As WSB-TV reports, Lt. Daniel Peabody could face charges in the case, which truly has no winners. Peabody apparently arrived home around 4:15pm, and "he gets out, turns the car off, gets busy with his wife helping another dog, and apparently he simply forgot about the dog, accidentally," says Cherokee County Marshal's Office Chief Ron Hunton. Peabody remembered Inka around 7pm, after nearly three hours in the car on a day that climbed into the 90s. Upon finding the dog dead, he had trouble breathing and lost consciousness. "Peabody was very distraught, very despondent over it, naturally, even to the point where he was transported to the hospital last night," says Hunton. (More police dog stories.)