Officer resigns after K-9 dies in patrol car

Though no formal charges had been filed, a Cherokee County officer resigned Thursday, just days after his canine died from heatstroke after being left in a police car, officials said.

Lt. Daniel Peabody said he forgot his 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, Inca, in a Cherokee County school police patrol car on Friday when he went into his house about 4:15 p.m., Chief Ron Hunton said.

The car, which was Peabody’s usual work vehicle, was not equipped with alarms to warn the officer the dog was inside.

When Peabody remembered Inca about 7 p.m., the dog was dead. A necropsy confirmed the dog died from heatstroke, Hunton said Monday in a release.

Cherokee County school spokeswoman Barbara Jacoby said Peabody submitted his resignation at the school board meeting, where it was immediately accepted.

In 2013, Officer Chad Berry of the Woodstock Police Department was suspended without pay for 10 days and fined $325 for leaving Spartacus, a 3-year old Belgian Malinois, inside his patrol car, where he died. Berry was also reassigned to the traffic department, where his salary was lowered.