A Monroe County sergeant has been demoted after leaving his K-9 partner in his vehicle, which resulted in the dog’s death.
According to Sheriff Brad Freeman as reported by WMAZ, Deputy Willie Barkley, who was a sergeant at the time, was working overnight on May 13-14. He left K-9 Officer Khan asleep in the car while working on reports.
Barkley then went home to sleep and left the dog in the car. When he realized Khan — a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois that had been with the sheriff’s office since July 2018 — was still in the car, he found the dog dead.
“There were no health issues with the dog,” Freeman told WMAZ. “Although it wasn’t a hot day, the temperature was around 79 that day. A lot of people don’t realize it might be 79 outside, which is not hot for us, but in the car, it can go up 20 degrees. It could be 90+ degrees in that car. Therefore, no one can handle that — human or animal.”
Besides being demoted to deputy, Barkley was suspended five days without pay and moved from the field to working at the county jail.
The department has determined the dog’s death was an accident. Barkley had been Khan’s handler for about a year.
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