K-9 Officer Dies While Unattended In Hot Car

OAK FOREST, IL — A K-9 police officer for the Forest Preserves District of Cook County died from apparent heat exposure while he was left in a patrol car parked at the Oak Forest Police Department on a day when temperatures in the area hit 90 degrees. K-9 Drago was left unattended in a car while his partner was inside the police station processing an alleged suspect on June 14, according to a Daily Southtown report.

“We are heartbroken to lose a canine member of the Forest Preserves of Cook County Police Department,” Cook County Forest Preserves spokeswoman Lambrini Lukidis wrote in a statement on Thursday. “The protection of wildlife and living things are at the core of our mission and we take this loss very seriously.”

A deleted Facebook post from a K-9 Police Memorial Facebook page indicated a day after the incident that the on-duty officer was processing a suspect and left Drago in the car. The post indicated the air conditioner was on, but stopped working and began blowing hot air instead.

A high of 90 degrees was reached on June 14, according to AccuWeather.

Oak Forest police and fire units attempted CPR on the K-9 and dousing him with water, but Drago was not able to survive.

“Had his agency provided and utilized a backup heat temperature alarm, K-9 Drago would not have succumbed to the heat,” the deleted Facebook post initially read.

The Cook County Forest Preserves is “looking into the circumstances of this incident,” Lukidis said.

Drago may be most remembered for an incident just two months ago when he saved a disoriented man’s life in Tinley Park.