Related articles:

Maricopa sheriff to investigate police dog deathChandler police dog honored Cop lets police K-9 die in hot vehicle

Other articles by Sonu Munshi:

Group's vision: a vibrant Mesa downtown area Mesa to fight efforts to revive payday loans Mesa's cuts raise concerns about building safety Planned Mesa hotel may be state's biggestGrand Ole Opry owner plans Arizona's biggest hotel in Mesa Community college scraps plan for downtown campus Cold War nuke sites now scene of play, plant sales Town seeks way to save historic old hotel I-17 rest area Sunset Point to get work No regrets over controversial T-shirt

Health Care
Dependable Health Services
Physical Therapists Health Care
CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps

A Chandler police dog who died Saturday was stuck in a vehicle that comes equipped with a sensor to alert handlers when temperatures get too hot.

But Chandler police spokesman Sgt. Rick Griner said the key has to be in the ignition for the device to work.

He said the dog's handler, Sgt. Tom Lovejoy, was placed on administrative leave Tuesday while Chandler police conduct an internal investigation to determine if any department policies were violated.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has jurisdiction in any criminal investigation, because the vehicle was parked outside Lovejoy's home on county land at the time of the dog's death. Investigators said Bandit, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois, was left unattended for nearly 13 hours after Lovejoy returned from an early morning assignment and forgot the dog was in the vehicle.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said his animal-cruelty unit received many phone calls from angry residents regarding the incident, and he assured them a speedy investigation would be conducted. Arpaio has been an outspoken advocate against animal cruelty, but he said he wouldn't prejudge the Chandler officer.

"It doesn't matter if this officer wears a uniform," Arpaio said. "I'll treat this case fairly and impartially."

Lovejoy's wife, Carolynn, said she doesn't think her husband should be fired or face criminal charges. But she said her husband has agonized over Bandit's death and is willing to take responsibility for what happened.

"The whole family is upside-down," she said in an interview on KTAR radio, 92.3 FM. "Whatever they do to him, he will gladly take, and he'll understand."

Carolynn Lovejoy said the family kept Bandit with other dogs in an air-conditioned kennel in their backyard. She said her husband heard the dogs barking Saturday and assumed Bandit was with them.

Her daughter took food to the dogs during the day and didn't notice that Bandit was missing.

"For some reason, it didn't click with her that Bandit didn't run up," she said.

Carolynn Lovejoy said many things happened Saturday that threw the family off its normal rhythm. She said her husband had worked an extra shift Saturday morning and took Bandit with him.

They returned home together around 9 a.m., about the time Lovejoy received a phone call about his teenage son being involved in a car crash in which his vehicle was totaled. The son did not receive major injuries.

Chandler police would not elaborate on Tuesday about whether the call came before or after Lovejoy returned home.

Lovejoy discovered Bandit in his police SUV parked outside his house at about 10 p.m.

During a routine SWAT drill Tuesday at a Mesa mall, K-9 Unit officer Lin Brannan showed the safety equipment that comes with K-9 vehicles.

He said dog handlers sometimes leave their animals unattended inside their vehicles with the air conditioning running. The vehicles include an engine monitor that triggers an alarm and sends a page to the officer if the engine stalls.

The paging device also beeps in case the vehicle gets hotter than a set maximum temperature. A high-speed fan at the back kicks on if the temperature reaches that level, and the back windows roll down automatically.

The vehicle's horn also goes off like a burglar alarm.