Bomb-sniffing K-9 dies in hot car, officer charged - Mount Holly, NJ

Tuesday, Jul 7, 2009

County: Burlington

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged:
» Kara McIntosh
» Robert McIntosh

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

A three-year-old K-9 veteran of the Mount Holly Police department died on Wednesday.

Patton, a dog specially trained to detect explosives, died after being left in a hot car for an extended period of time, an anonymous source told The Trentonian.

The New Jersey SPCA is investigating.

“We’ll draw some type of conclusion concerning the dog’s death,” said SPCA spokesman Matt Stanton.

The SPCA plans to interview Officer Kara McIntosh, Patton’s handler, about the dog’s death. Officer McIntosh was a member of the force for three years when she was assigned to Patton. She would often take Patton home with her, even when she was off-duty, the Trentonian reported.

The four-year old Golden Retriever was worth over $100,000 because of his training and the specialized vehicle used to transport the K-9 officer and the dog, the source added.

On Wednesday, Police Chief Steven Martin confirmed that Patton died, but did not release any other details.

Patton was rescued in 2006 from an animal shelter when he was 1½.

Case Updates

A local policewoman and her husband were charged with animal cruelty yesterday for the death of the township police dog left behind to bake in their personal car on July 7. The New Jersey SPCA announced the filing of charges in municipal court against Officer Kara McIntosh, handler of the bomb-sniffing K-9 Patton, and husband Robert McIntosh, chief of the Mount Holly emergency squad. The couple each face two counts of criminal charges and two counts of civil charges. If they’re convicted, they could face up to six months in jail for each criminal charge. They could also face fines and community service requirements. Authorities said the case, first reported in The Trentonian, is being moved from Mount Holly because of possible conflicts of interest, but it was not clear what court might get the case for trial. SPCA spokesman Matt Stanton, who was involved in the two-month probe of Patton’s death, said Kara McIntosh told investigators she left the dog in her personal car with the air conditioning running parked outside Rancocas Valley High School thinking her husband would pick up the car and dog soon after. But the air conditioner stopped, Stanton said, and the 5-year-old golden retriever was in the hot car for at least two hours, long enough for the heat to kill Patton, which cost $100,000 to buy and train for local work as well as sniffing out explosives on a state police task force. Kara McIntosh, who works as the duty officer at the high school, remains on regular duty at the police department. She declined to comment yesterday and her lawyer, Mario D’Alfonso, did not return calls for comment. How and why Patton died has been the subject of chatter among law enforcement types and the general public since The Trentonian started pressing authorities for answers after it was tipped off a few days after the incident by folks wondering why a story about it hadn’t made the newspapers. But cops and officials in Mount Holly said little about the dog’s death, confirming only that the cop was under investigation several days after the incident. “Kara’s always been a good solid police officer with us,” Police Chief Steven Martin said a few days after Patton was found dead. SPCA investigators reportedly tested the car’s air conditioner and questioned the McIntoshes at length. Stanton declined to say whether McIntosh and her husband had a lawyer present during questioning, and said scheduling conflicts for both SPCA staff and witnesses during the summer caused the delay in filing charges.

Source: The Trentonian - Sept 19, 2009 Update posted on Sep 20, 2009 - 6:12PM

References

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