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Agents of the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) are investigating the death of a K9 officer with the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) found dead in his handler’s car on July 28, 2024.
Our media outlet has been attempting to obtain details for more than a month regarding the circumstances that led to the death of the K9. Thus far, our requests for the information have been denied or deferred. Also, the name of the K9 officer – and the name of the handler – have yet to be released by the agency.
Sources familiar with the situation painted an alarming picture of a 14-year DCSO deputy and career handler with a troubling history with at least three K9 partners.
They painted an even grimmer picture of the circumstances surrounding the K9’s death.
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On Thursday (August 29, 2024), we informed lieutenant Rick Carson — DCSO public information officer — of our intention to publish an update on the case and offered him the opportunity to comment on behalf of the agency.
He offered the following statement:
“As with any investigation, until it is complete we will not be releasing anything further,” Carson said. “As I promised you, the file will be released in its entirety to all media when it has been completed and approved. And you were previously added to the media distribution list.”
Over the past few weeks, sources have grown increasingly frustrated with DCSO’s lack of transparency. Some of them told us the investigation had already been completed – and that its results were being hidden from the public.
Shortly after we published our story, DCSO posted the following statement to its Facebook page…
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“Given the sensitive nature of this incident, to ensure transparency and thoroughness, we have forwarded the findings to an external agency for an investigative review,” the post noted. “As with any investigation, we are limited on the information that we can share. In this matter, as soon as the review is complete the file will be available in its entirety. We appreciate your concerns and ask for your patience through the review process.”
The post from DCSO said they are “aware of misinformation circulating across social media. We urge you to not draw conclusions from any other source, pending the results of the investigation.”
Today, we learned the “external agency” is SLED – whose participation was requested yesterday,
“The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was requested on Thursday, August 29, 2024, by the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the death of a Dorchester County K9,” said Renée Wunderlich, the agency’s director of public information. “SLED’s investigation is active and ongoing.”
Wunderlich confirmed that SLED was leading an independent inquiry – not merely performing an “investigative review.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Callie Lyons is a journalist, researcher and author. Her 2007 book ‘Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal’ was the first to cover forever chemicals and their impact on communities – a story later told in the movie ‘Dark Waters.’ Her investigative work has been featured in media outlets, publications, and documentaries all over the world. Lyons also appears in ‘Citizen Sleuth’ – a 2023 documentary exploring the genre of true crime.
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4 comments
Make the handler responsible for the cost to replace their dog. I guarantee this will drastically reduce the number of dogs lost each year.
Eye for an eye. Lock the ‘officer’ in a hot car and walk away! What a disgrace to the badge.
I’m very sorry about the dog. But the term “K9 officer” just xisses me off.
Thank you for keeping up with this K9 officers death. This, not being the first this handler had, he should have not had this K9! The sad part us that Dorchester County would have swept this under the rug as they do everything done wrong by them. For instance, our case ~Justice for Daniel Reed Smith! These K9’s would put their life in front of ours to protect us under any circumstances! They are more loyal than some people. This one depended on that one person and he “forgot” him! To just move him to another shift isn’t enough.