Officers Gather To Commemorate Fallen Hialeah K-9s
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HIALEAH (CBSMiami) -- Hialeah Police officers gathered Monday to commemorate two fallen, four-legged heroes.
"Jimmy" the bloodhound and "Hektor" the Belgian Malinois who were part of their K-9 unit died last month after an officer left them in his car outside his Davie home.
On Monday, officers gathered at the Sgt. James Cichewicz K-9 Training Center at the police department to pay their respects.
"They were both honorable members of our department. We are duly committed to memorialize them today for losing their lives," said Sgt. Carl Zogby.
Hialeah Police said Officer Nelson Enriquez had just finished working the midnight shift. They said the dogs were in the car for more than six hours.
"They are invaluable partners. They are not human but their function to us is almost as if they were human," said Zogby. "Apart from that, they are magnificent animals that the officers just fall in love with."
Jimmy was just 5-months old when he had been donated to Hialeah Police by the Jimmy Ryce Foundation in honor of the 9-year-old youngster who was kidnapped while walking home from school and killed.
Jimmy is remembered as an invaluable tracker of missing people. The 7-year veteran of the department was involved in of hundreds of searches. Hektor was trained to take down criminals.
"Even though K9 Hektor was with us a brief time, he served us well and proud," said Zogby.
Following their death, the two dogs were taken by police escort to the University of Florida in Gainesville for a necropsy to determine their cause of death.
The Davie Police Department continues to investigate whether the dogs deaths were an accident or if negligence played a role.
"We give him the benefit of the doubt until the investigation ends because we can not see that this is anything more than an accident," said Zogby.
Officer Enriquez remains on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
