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A Hialeah, Florida police officer is on paid administrative leave while an investigation into the death of two police K9s in his care is underway.
Jimmy, a 7-year old Bloodhound that searched for missing children and adults, and Hector, a 4-year old Belgian Malinois that chased and apprehended suspects, both died after being trapped inside their handler’s patrol car for at least 6 hours in the sweltering Florida heat.
After working the night shift along with the dogs, Officer Nelson Enriquez, a 13-year veteran of the Hialeah Police Department, parked his patrol car, a Ford Explorer SUV, in front of his Davie, Florida home mid-morning on Wednesday. He went inside, forgetting that the dogs were still in the SUV.
The dogs were found more than 6 hours later, at around 7pm. Outside temperatures in Davie that day were in the mid to upper-80’s, making the temperature inside the vehicle well into the 100’s. Both dogs were dead, most likely from heat exhaustion, an excrutiatingly horrific way to die.
“Davie Police are the lead investigating agency, and with the Broward State Attorney’s Office will make the final determination whether this was an accident or if this was any sort of abuse or negligence,” Hialeah Police Sgt. Carl Zogby explained to The Sun Sentinel.
Zogby also said that Officer Enriquez is extremely distraught. The officer, his wife, and their two young children considered the dogs part of their family. Both dogs lived inside the home with the Enriquez family.
Police in both Davie, where the deaths occurred, and in Hialeah, where Officer Enriquez was employed are investigating.
“We’re investigating this just like any other animal crime,” Davie Police Sgt. Pablo Castaneda said.
After police determine exactly what happened, they will determine whether any charges should be filed. And, they will put measures in place to prevent something like this ever happening again.
Neshama
says:Lazy, neglectful, abusive POS, You both should be locked inside a hot car until you die. I hope you go to prison.
Pattie
says:Police dogs are trained to ride and wait quietly. They would not have reacted to being in the car without the handler the way your dog’s react when you leave them. I can see the officer getting distracted after working a 12+ hour night shift, but my question is how did the wife & kids not notice the dogs weren’t in the house?
Chaz
says:I hope he too will be charged as just like any regular person would.. the uniform means NOTHING!! Charge the ass.. you just DON’T forget about dogs!
how in the hell do you forget your dogs that protect you everyday are in your car. YOU POS. I hope the court offers to let your wife and kids be forgotten in the car. ROT IN HELL
Angela
says:How many times did he forget his kids were in the car? He worked with these K-9’s, they were his partners, his children. I have never forgotten one of my sleeping babies in the car, never forgot my dog was in the car. And where were his wife and children, how is it they didn’t enquire about the dogs for 6 hours. I forgot is such an easy, lame excuse for negligence.
Kris
says:These poor dogs suffered horribly before they died. Nothing will happen to this moron. NOTHING!!! He not only murdered two Canine Officers, he destroyed expensive City Property, but he will not lose one penny of pay and will be given more dogs. Watch.
Sammie Warwick
says:I have learned in my years not to judge others for things like this. Yes it is horrible and I pray for those poor dogs. But unless you are perfect and have never made a mistake before, how can you judge him? Did you ride his shift that night? Did you work those exhausting hours? The man is human and humans make mistakes, big and small. The bigger question is why has our society gotten to the lynch mob ideal? Why do we have to have someone to BLAME? Why can’t there be accidents anymore? And lastly, why do we think we have the right to be judge and jury of this man? Is it going to serve society seeing him arrested, his family ruined? Will it bring the dogs back? I agree they need to work on a way to keep this from happening in the future. Don’t vilify this man. He didn’t consciously leave them in the car while he ran into a store. Just my opinion.
Pattie
says:Very well put, and I agree completely. I am a huge animal advocate, have always fostered and adopted from shelters, and I do feel horrible for those dogs. But the man made a mistake. A horrible horrible mistake that he will have to live with forever. His children already see him differently. He will always have the stigma attached to him that he was the guy who cooked his dogs. He may have gone inside after his shift, got distracted by someone or something going on in the house, and fell asleep after working a 12+ hour shift. My heart is truly torn in two different directions.
Aside from that, I sincerely hope that the other commenters here are not this venomous when they’re not hiding behind their keyboards. No wonder the world is in such bad shape.
Rita
says:YOU STUPID BASTARD…part of the family PLEASE.
Clyde
says:Let me get this right:
This is a K9 officer delegated responsibility for one or two specially trained dogs;
This officer does not remember that he had these dogs in his vehicle; and he is on PAID leave!
How can anyone unless they are drunk or high NOT know the dogs were there.
If this “officer” is not charged with animal cruelty, let him sit in the same vehicle for the same amount of time. This person does bot belong in law enforcement!
Should be up on 2 charges of murder of law enforcement officer.Would be the charges on a regular citizen. POS!
Should be charged with 2 counts of murder of law enforcement officers,Be the charges on a citizen. POS!
Either way even if accident his carelessness cost not just 2 family pets /dogs but police officers. So he should lose his right to wworwork with the k9 department if he cant be responsible enough. In his field of work you cant be irresponsible it can cost lives.
I’m sorry he is so distraught but if they lived in the house with the family why didn’t anyone in the family notice they weren’t inside? He needs to be charged.
Edna
says:He should furthermore be removed from K9 detail and put on a walking neighborhood patrol. No way did he forget dogs were in the car when he left the vehicle they would have barked and been walking around in the rear of the vehicle. You hear large dogs in the rear of your vehicle. I know this because I have two large dogs – a german shepherd and a shepherd/pit mix. They love me and won’t let me leave them because they want to go with me. If they let him leave with no fuss, they didn’t want to go with him. There is definitely a reason for this. Look at the man and hold him accountable.
Teresa
says:I don’t see how that could happen, unless it was intentional. If I tried to get out of my car and leave my dogs in it, they would make such a fuss that it couldn’t be ignored. I can see forgetting a sleeping infant in the backseat being forgotten more than 2 dogs. AND he’s on paid administrative leave? I know whatever punishment he gets won’t fit the crime, but I hope they throw the book at him. Then turn him loose to a bunch of animal lovers…..
Mogilb
says:There is absolutely NO excuse for this; the man should NOT be a cop; if he’s that careless, he’s dangerous in law enforcement!
What BS, these dogs were essentially apart of the family and yet noone asked where the dogs were. I completely respect cops and the hard job they have but when you hear stories like this you just want to spit. How could you do this to these poor pups. Dest job for this cop so leaving his pen and paper in the car wont end it a tragedy.
MA
says:are you kidding me wtf don’t matter cant get away with it
Kathy
says:Oh dear God. I pray this was a horrible accident. I can’t imagine how much those poor blessed dogs suffered in that sweltering heat. My heart breaks for all involved. I just pray this was not a malicious act on the officer’s part.
Not only is this devastating, sad and a horrific death, these dogs are extremely expensive and so is their training. Hopefully, this will never happen again. Prayers to all.