Houston police K-9 dies after patrol vehicle malfunctions, trapping dog alone in hot car

HOUSTON – A tragic accident resulted in the death of a Houston Police Department K-9 on Monday.

Aron, a 4-year-old K-9 officer who served 1.5 years with HPD, died of heat exhaustion after the police unit he was in malfunctioned.

Houston police released a statement Tuesday that said Aron was left in a “running, air-conditioned patrol vehicle, which is a necessary and common practice when the K-9 partner is not actively engaged in police work.”

Police said Aron’s handler was away from the vehicle and when they returned, the handler discovered the patrol vehicle had shut off and saw Aron was in distress.

Aron was transported to an emergency veterinarian clinic but succumbed to his heat-related injuries.

“HPD K-9 vehicles are equipped with a system that notifies the handler, sounds the horn, activates cooling fans, and rolls down the car windows, if for some reason the vehicle shuts down,” police said in a statement.

HPD officials who are investigating Aron’s death said those safety mechanisms didn’t go off in this instance and they are working to determine what went wrong to prevent this from happening in the future.

“All HPD vehicles that transport K-9s will immediately be inspected by the vendor to ensure the systems are working properly,” officials said in a statement posted to Twitter.

Police asked the public to “please keep Aron’s handler and the entire K-9 team in your prayers as they mourn the loss of Aron.”