Distraction Of Police Officer Led To Dogs Death
Last Summer, a Nottinghamshire police dog handler left his two German Shepherds in the back of a car during one of the hottest days of the summer. The dogs were left in the car for several hours when temperatures reached 29.3C (84.7F) in June last year. The two dogs died due to the heat as PC Mark Johnson claims he was distracted by paperwork, a court has heard.
It is reported that he was suffering from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder when he forgot the dogs.
He denies confining the dogs to the detriment of their wellbeing.
Paul Taylor, prosecuting the case for the RSPCA, told the trial at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court: “Jet and Jay-Jay [the dogs] suffered excruciating pain when their handler PC Johnson left them in the boot of his private motorcar. Pc Johnson’s usual routine would have been to have transferred them to a police vehicle which had an air cooling unit but he did not transfer them and went about his business. He had some paperwork which needed to be done and by the time he realised what had happened, seven hours had passed and he went out and realised the dogs had died. Pc Johnson had always been devoted to animals and his dogs in particular – who would have saved his life or got him out of tricky situations on operations in the past. I can find no evidence that he harboured any malice towards his dogs or that he would have wished to harm them but he made an error which nevertheless had fatal consequences for the animals.
“His failure in this case is an aberration of his normal high standards. However his actions had catastrophic consequences for the two dogs in the car.”
On the day, Pc Johnson drove his Ford Mondeo to Nottinghamshire Police’s HQ in Arnold. He arrived just before 0700 BST and had planned to transfer the dogs to a police car but it was off the road as the air conditioning system was being fixed. He found another car but there were no mats in the back and when he went to find some he became distracted by a police briefing.
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Afterwards, he told his sergeant he wanted to discuss some medical issues with him later in the day but he needed time to do his paperwork.
BBC Nottinghamshire reports at about 1030 BST he planned to let his dogs out of the car, give them water and allow them to stretch their legs. But he became distracted again by a phone call about a missing person.
At noon, he had a meeting with his sergeant about his problems and it was not until nearly 1430 BST that he finally went to check on his dogs.
Both were dead in the car. The RSPCA allege Mr Johnson unnecessarily confined his dogs “in an environment that was detrimental to their wellbeing”.
The case continues.
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Related posts:
- Face Of Nottinghamshire Dog Death PC Revealed
- RSPCA Comments on “Death Trap” as Police Leave Two Dogs to Die in Hot Car
- Dog Death Policeman Guilty of Animal Cruelty (Not Banned From Keeping Animals)
- Breaking: Police Will Face Charges Over Dog Deaths In Nottinghamshire
- Dogs Trust Confirms Two Dead Police Dogs Were Not Rehomed By Them
