CPD Officer Suspended Following K9 Death

Columbia Police mourn death of K-9 Turbo
Courtesy CPD

Columbia, S.C. (WOLO)– A Columbia police officer is suspended after he left his K9 partner alone in a car for eight hours.

Thursday afternoon Chief Skip Holbrook announced K9 officer Turbo died in July after being left in Officer David hurt’s patrol car from 7:30 in the morning until 3:30 that afternoon

Chief Holbrook says Officer Hurt did roll the windows down and leave the air conditioner running.
However, he also says Officer Hurt deactivated a heat alarm designed to go off when the car reaches a certain temperature.
A decision Holbrook says the officer had no explanation for.

Investigators say this all happened on July 18th while officers were in active shooter training at CA Johnson High School.
Holbrook says Officer Hurt also never checked on the two year old yellow lab during those hours but did send someone to look in on the dog at 11:30
Holbrook says Officer Hurt will not face any criminal charges but will be suspended for five days without pay and will be removed as a K9 officer.

There are no laws in the state of South Carolina or Richland County pertaining to animals being left in cars.

In addition to his suspension, Officer Hurt has also been suspended from the city’s explosives response team for six
months.