Fallen Heroes
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South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Charges filed against man in shooting death of BSO K-9 dog

By Brian Haas, Rafael Olmeda and Sallie James

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Oozi, a Belgian Malinois, helped his partner capture 35 people this year. Number 36 turned out to be fatal.

The 7-1/2 -year-old Broward Sheriff's Office K-9 dog was shot and killed in Miami Beach on Thursday morning, leaving deputies with a heavy heart and his
partner devastated.

"It can't be, not Oozi; this is one of the top dogs in the county," said Sgt. Dennis Additon, who supervises K-9s for the Sheriff's Office. "Sad, angry, the whole gamut
of emotions — all of us train together every week. It's like wolves, that basic instinct of the pack — and we are a pack, and when you lose one of the members it
affects everybody."

Oozi plunged into the line of fire as police shot at a man they chased from Oakland Park to Miami Beach. The suspect, 27-year-old Delvin Lewis, was
hospitalized with three gunshot wounds and charged with aggravated assault with a vehicle on a law enforcement officer, aggravated fleeing and eluding,
resisting an officer with violence and being principal to the death of a police dog.Five years earlier, Lewis was accused of attacking a police dog.

Investigators on Thursday didn't say who fired the shot that killed Oozi or whether Lewis had a gun.

Oozi's handler, Deputy Gerald Wengert, could not be reached to comment. The two were awarded employee of the month in January 2007 for their work in
breaking up a Cooper City burglary ring.

But K-9s like Oozi are far more than just dogs. The bond between partners is intense.

"These dogs are part of our family," Additon said. "We spend more time with our dogs than we do our own family. They are with us eight, 10 hours at work, then
they are home with us all the day. The dog is with us all the time. The bond goes beyond words."

The trouble started about 12:30 a.m. with a report of shots fired in a domestic dispute in the 300 block of Northeast 35th Court in Oakland Park. There Lewis
barged into his girlfriend's home and slammed her against a wall, said Jim Leljedal, spokesman for the Broward Sheriff's Office. The girlfriend told police she
saw he had a gun so she got her own and chased him off with a few gunshots.

The Sheriff's Office put out a bulletin for Lewis' car, and more than two dozen cruisers chased him to Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach, Leljedal said. There,
deputies and officers opened fire and "Oozi entered the line of fire and was fatally wounded," Leljedal said. Authorities initially said Lewis fired shots at police, but
later backed off from that statement.

According to state records, Lewis has several convictions, including resisting arrest and battery on a law enforcement officer. Most of the charges were
misdemeanors.

In 2003, Lewis was charged with trying to injure a Sheriff's Office police dog, though the charges were dropped. The dog survived and still works with deputies.

K-9 officers say their partners are fearless protectors raised from puppies with one purpose: save lives. They plunge into danger at their handler's order.

Plantation K-9 Officer Allan Radziwon, 35, has partnered with Bert, another Belgian Malinois, since the dog was 11 months old. Now, 2 1/2 , Bert is an elite police
tool, 64 pounds of pure muscle that can drop a bad guy at 35 mph.

"As officers, we are given tools: Our gun, a Taser, a baton. When we're in a confrontation in the street, a bad guy can take all those away from us. He's the one
tool we have that can't be turned against me," Radziwon said. "Ultimately, that is the dog's purpose, to save a human life."

Nine South Florida K-9s have been killed since 1997.

A Tamarac nonprofit group called the Atlas Guardian Angel Foundation bought special bullet-proof vests for police dogs in the past.

"Most of the guys, that dog is their baby," said Joann Knox, the group's founder. But her group closed this year because a lack of interest.

Knox's foundation was named for Atlas, a Miami police K-9 killed in a police shootout in 2000.
Officer Matt Williams  and K9 Diogi
were killed
September 28, 2006
K-9 officer Sam Diesel was killed
this week ,from heat stroke after his
patrol car's cooling system
malfunctioned.
Mulberry Police Dog Dies in Hot Car
Cruiser's air conditioning fails, dooming 2-year-old German shepherd.
By Jeremy Maready
THE LEDGER


Published: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 6:56 a.m.
MULBERRY | A Mulberry police dog left in a patrol car died Monday after the car's air conditioning compressor failed.



MICHAEL WILSON | THE LEDGER Buy photo
POLICE DOG SAM DIESEL is shown last October with Mulberry Police K-9 Officer Sara Movahedi when a fund drive paid for the dog. He died
Monday in a very hot patrol car.
Related Links:
Mulberry Police Offered New K-9, Help
Police Dog's Tragic Death Leads To Check of Policies, Equipment
Mulberry Police Dog Dies When Patrol Car AC Fails
Mulberry Police Chief Lawrence Cavallaro said the dog, named Sam Diesel, died from the heat. The 2-year-old German shepherd had been
in the car for more than an hour, although it wasn't clear Monday exactly how long he was in the car or when the air conditioning failed.

The Mulberry department purchased the dog in October after Wal-Mart employees from 10 stores in Polk and Hillsborough counties donated
about $12,625.

Diesel's handler, Officer Sara Movahedi, was working inside the police station Monday afternoon and left the dog in the car with the air
conditioning running. Cavallaro said keeping the dog in the patrol car with the air conditioning running is standard procedure and done
routinely.

When Movahedi returned to the car about 3:50 p.m. to answer a call she found that Diesel had died and the car's air vents were blowing hot
air.

Cavallaro said Movahedi wasn't at fault in the incident.

However, Cavallaro said, "A periodic check (on the dog) would have helped. We're learning a hard lesson by it."

Movahedi's patrol car, a 2004 Ford Crown Victoria, was awaiting the installation of a heat alarm, which could have alerted Movahedi to the
danger. A heat alarm, triggered when the temperature inside the car reaches a certain level, sounds the car's horn and sends a page to the
officer's electronic pager.

Movahedi was assigned the Crown Victoria less than a month ago and it had a new compressor and a cage had been installed, Cavallaro
said. The department had the alarm system on order.

"She's a good handler," Cavallaro said of Movahedi, who has worked with the department for two years.

"She just had some bad luck there."

Movahedi was not available for comment.
City and county authorities are investigating the death of a San Diego police dog whose body was found in the
back seat of a patrol car at his handler's home.

The grim discovery was made Friday in Alpine, where temperatures had topped 100 degrees.

According to the San Diego Police Department, the dog was a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois named Forrest. Forrest stayed with his handler at
this house in Alpine, about 20 miles east of downtown San Diego.

Sources familiar with the investigation identified the dog's handler as Paul Hubka, a 22-year veteran who's a director of the San Diego Police
Officers Association.Hubka returned from an overnight shift, went into his house, and came out a few hours later to discover Forrest's body in
the back seat of his patrol car.

Police, sheriff's deputies and animal control officers converged on the neighborhood and began an investigation that's still awaiting necropsy
results.

Officials said Malinois are a deep-chested breed, susceptible to an often-fatal ailment known as gastric tortion. The San Diego Police
Department said they have lost two Malinois to gastric tortion in the past couple of years.

But the stifling weather and circumstances leading to Forrest's death have suggested the possibility of heat exposure.


Last summer, two police dogs -- one in suburban Phoenix, the other in suburban Atlanta -- died of heat exposure after being left for hours in
their handlers' patrol cars.
The police sergeant involved in the Arizona case goes to trial Friday on misdemeanor charges of animal neglect.
We are currently accepting donations
"In Memory of Sam Diesel"
Your donations will help pay for the medical
needs of retired K-9 officers.
You can make a secure donation by clicking
the button above and paying with Paypal.

You can also mail donations to:

K-9 For life, Inc.
615 Overlook Drive
Winter Haven, Florida
33884

863-324-6964
$1000
Current approximate
donations
$250
Our Friend K-9 Nick  who was
retired from the WHPD, passed
away at home with his family on
June 16th 2008.
You can click the images of Nick or
JP to view a memorial slide show
from the WHPD
During the early morning hours of
Saturday, August 11, 2007,
Sergeant Debbie Pritt’s retired    
K-9 partner, JP, passed away.  JP
was one of the first K-9s acquired
after Officer Johnnie Patterson Jr.
was killed in the line of duty.  He
was proudly named after Officer
Patterson and served the
department and his fellow
officers well.