Houston Police K-9 dies of heat exhaustion after being left inside patrol unit

HOUSTON, TX. (NBC) - The Houston Police Department gave a final farewell to one of its K-9 officers who died earlier this week due to heat exhaustion.

A memorial service was held in honor of fallen K-9 officer Aron.

According to a report, Aron’s handler had taken three of his dogs to a training facility Monday to run them through some drills.

He took two of the dogs with him inside the building but left Aron in the back of his patrol vehicle.

It is not known how long the animal had been left alone.

A statement released by police said the handler left the car on with the air conditioning running, but when he returned, the vehicle had turned off and Aron was in distress.

He was rushed to a veterinarian but succumbed to heat exhaustion.

Houston Police explained that it is not uncommon to leave dogs alone in vehicles and there are multiple fail safes in place to prevent such tragedies from occurring.

Officials say that those did not activate in this instance.

Police are investigating the tragedy.

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