A Houston Police K-9 named Aron died from heat exhaustion after being left in a hot police cruiser on Tuesday, the department reported.
Aron is the second police K-9 to die from being left inside a hot police cruiser in recent weeks. On June 6, K-9 Chase of the Cobb County Police Department in Georgia died from a heat stroke.
In both instances, cruiser malfunctions were to blame for the incidents.
Police said Aron was left in the police cruiser with the air conditioning running. The police said leaving the K-9 in the cruiser is standard practice when the handler is not actively conducting police work.
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When the handler returned, the engine was shut off, and Aron was distressed.
Aron was transported to a veterinary hospital but died from the distress, police said.
According to the National Weather Service, the temperature in Houston reached 94 degrees Tuesday.
Houston Police said cruisers are equipped with an alarm to notify handlers when the air conditioning shuts off. The department says the alarms did not work in this instance.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, Aron is the 10th police K-9 to die in the line of duty this year in the U.S.
In 2022, the group reported that two K-9s died in a similar fashion with departments claiming their cruisers’ heat monitoring systems failed.
Aron was 4 years old and had been with the department for a year and a half.
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