Airport bomb sniffing dog, left in patrol car, dies from heat

A bomb-sniffing dog died in the back of a patrol car at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport Tuesday afternoon.

Emma, a 7-year-old black Lab in the GSP Police Department, was found dead from overheating after the vehicle’s air conditioning malfunctioned, said GSP spokeswoman Rosilyn Weston.

The dog was left in the vehicle around 4 p.m. when a 14-year veteran K-9 handler tended to other law enforcement duties inside the airport’s terminal. The dog was found dead when the officer returned around 5:30 p.m. and noticed the air conditioning had stopped working.

“At times, handlers will need to tend to other law enforcement duties, and some of those times dogs are left in those units. Typically, the AC is on,” Weston said.

Weston said she did not know what caused the malfunction and said police vehicles are routinely serviced by the facilities department.

The K-9 handler, Cpl. Chris Richau, was operating a 2011 Ford Crown Victoria.

On the heels of Emma’s death, GSP police will evaluate the incident to ensure all policies and procedures were properly followed, Weston said.

“We always take a watchful eye,” Weston said. “We’ll see if there is something we could have done differently that might have resulted in a different outcome.”

Emma was the only K-9 assigned to the police department. She had been working with GSP for two and a half years and was the third dog to have been with the agency.

GSP’s first two, Tide and Amos, came as a pair and both retired before Emma came to the agency, Weston said.

“Emma was a part of our staff,” she said. “It’s very tragic that we’ve lost her in the manner in which we have. It was simply an accident. At the end of the day, what everybody wishes, when talking about accidents, is that it didn’t happen.”

GSP Police Chief Bobby Welborn declined to comment.

This story was originally published September 17, 2014 at 9:33 PM with the headline "Airport bomb sniffing dog, left in patrol car, dies from heat."