14 Dogs Die When Air Conditioning in Truck Fails

No criminal charges will be filed after 14 dogs died inside a hot truck when the air conditioning failed, prosecutors in northern Indiana said Tuesday. The dogs died Friday near a hotel in Roseland, just north of South Bend, where the dogs' handler was staying, the AP reports. The handler, Cortney Corral, told investigators that she parked her truck and plugged an extension cord into an electrical outlet on the outside of the hotel to power the air conditioning for the kennels in the back of the vehicle. She then went into her hotel room to nap for about two hours. When she awoke, she checked on the dogs and found them dead, police have said. Officers found a circuit breaker had tripped, causing the air conditioning to shut off, police said.

The high was 86 degrees in South Bend on Friday. "Evidence gathered in the investigation confirms that the dogs' deaths appear to be a tragic accident and that no crime was committed under the Indiana Criminal Code," the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release Tuesday. If the results of necropsies performed on some of the dogs uncover additional evidence, prosecutors will review the case again. The dogs were due to participate in a show at the county fairgrounds over the weekend. Police said the truck belonged to Lakesyde Kennels and Handling of Wellington, Ohio. (More Indiana stories.)