By Police1 Staff
ALICE, Texas — A Jim Wells County sheriff’s deputy has been fired and is under investigation after his K-9 died in his cruiser, NBC News reported.
Deputy Latham Roldan was a seven-year veteran of the force and had the K-9, Jola, for three years, the department told the publication.
The Aug 9. incident happened when the deputy came home from work.
“It was a case of negligence,” Capt. Joe Martinez told NBC News.
Jola was trapped in the car for nearly 20 hours as temperatures reached 99 degrees. She was found dead in the vehicle Monday.
“There’s no excuses,” Jim Wells County Sheriff Oscar Lopez told KRIS.
This latest K-9 death comes after a string of others, leaving departments with no choice but to create new policies to prevent deaths in the future.
Martinez told NBC News the department’s new policies will aim to prevent this situation from ever happening again.
The sheriff’s office has turned Roldan’s case over to a local prosecutor for review. Criminal charges are possible, but there have been no announcements yet.