A Police Dog Died in a Hot Car, Lieutenant Responsible for Caring for Him Is Charged

Mar. 15, 2025

Lieutenant Daniel R. Zeigler with K-9 Horus in 2021.Photo:Savannah Missouri Police Department

Savannah Missouri Police Department

Shortly before 6 p.m. on June 20, the lieutenant allegedly contacted his Missouri police chief to say that his K-9 partner who had served an overnight shift with him into the early hours of the morning was dead.

Horus died of heat exposure, which was “directly” connected to the deactivation of the vehicle’s AceK9 system designed to protect him, per the charging documents.

Sometime later, Chief Dave Vincent, drove up to the lieutenant’s home.

K-9 Horus in 2021.Savannah Missouri Police Department

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At Horus’s burial later that night, another witness said that he heard the lieutenant tell the chief that the K-9’s death was his fault, per the probable cause statement.

The temperature at the Kansas City International Airport – the nearest weather reporting station which is just shy of 50 miles away from Savannah, Mo. – recorded a high of 88 degrees that June afternoon.

Six days later, investigators conducted a functionality test on the Savannah Police K-9 vehicle the lieutenant had used. In the testing process, investigators parked the vehicle outside in direct sunlight with the ignition turned off.

As it was designed to, when the internal temperature of the vehicle shot up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the vehicle’s horn blared repeatedly in alarm, the rear windows rolled down and a fan activated.

source: people.com