Richland deputy says goodbye to her best buddy

Richland County Sheriff’s Department deputies and K-9s gathered Thursday to pay tribute to K-9 Tosca, a Belgian Malinois who suffered from a seizure and had to be put down.

Tosca was taken off a ventilator after suffering from a seizure. The sheriff said Tosca, a Belgian Malinois was rushed to the hospital by her handler, Deputy Emily Lemmond on Friday night in an attempt to save her life.

Tosca was trained in drug detection, tracking, suspect apprehension and more.

Lemmond spoke at the memorial, saying it was hard to not have her best buddy in the back seat of her patrol car. K-9s live with and train with their deputy partners.

Deputies laid a wreath in the sheriff’s department’s memorial park, and Tosca’s fellow K-9 offices said a barking goodbye.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to provide vests to the department’s K-9 Unit in the name of Tosca, Sheriff Leon Lott said. You can forward your support to the Richland County Sheriff’s Foundation, PO Box 1182, Columbia, South Carolina 29202.

This story was originally published August 17, 2017 at 5:19 PM with the headline "Richland deputy says goodbye to her best buddy."