Cobb County K-9 officer who died in hot patrol car laid to rest with full honors

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - A Cobb County K-9 who died in a hot patrol car has been laid to rest with full honors.

The Cobb County Police Department held a ceremony for K-9 Officer Chase Wednesday, saying on Facebook that "his legacy will be etched alongside other fallen officers."

Chase died on June 5 after the air conditioner inside the patrol car his handler left him in during a training exercise malfunctioned. The department says K-9 Officer Chase succumbed to heat-related injuries and the handler was not at fault. 

Sgt. Wayne Delk of the Cobb County Police Department explains the car in question was not the handler's usual vehicle and that the air conditioning malfunctioned for an unknown reason.

"The car was still running, but he noticed when he went to go check on K-9 Chase that the air conditioning was not, and the vehicle's temperature was running high and K-9 Chase was unresponsive," explained Delk.

Other K-9 officers were in separate patrol cars during that time as well, and officials confirm that all handlers were regularly checking on their partners during breaks every hour. The department emphasizes that there are a series of safety systems within the patrol car that should have activated in the event of AC failure or vehicle shutdown.

"For whatever reason, there was a cascading breakdown, and those things didn't happen properly, so there should have been a few notifications. That's still being investigated by our officers to find out why that vehicle malfunctioned," Delk said.

K-9 Officer Chase, a 4-year-old canine, had served Cobb County alongside his partner Officer Neill since April 2020. The department says officers are grieving the loss of their colleague who they say who was loved by all.

"My understanding is not only was Officer Neill affected by this, but his entire family as well," added Delk.

Chase had been named after fallen Locust Grove Police Officer Chase Maddox, who died in the line of duty in 2018 - just days before K-9 Officer Chase was born.

The department is actively investigating the cause of the equipment malfunctions.