Mercer County, Ohio -
A K-9 dies of heat stroke after a Mercer County deputy leaves the dog in the car without the engine running.
Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey says Wednesday afternoon Deputy Fortkamp came into the office to work on a traffic reconstruction project, he took his K-9 Zak with him. Fortkamp left the dog in the back of the cruiser, which was not on, while he proceeded to work on his project for hours.
When Fortkamp returned to the vehicle, he was pretty sure Zak was dead but he took him to the Coldwater Animal Clinic to see if anything could be done. The autopsy shows the dog died of heat stroke.
Deputy Fortcamp is on administrative leave while the chief deputy investigates the tragedy. Sheriff Grey says he is very disappointed and the deputy should have known better.
Sheriff Grey says the results of the investigation will determine Fortkamp's punishment. There are still many lingering questions following the incident. One of those is why the alarm in the K-9 car didn't go off when the temperature increased. Officers will try to figure out if the deputy failed to activate it or if it malfunctioned.
