SCHENECTADY — The Schenectady County Sheriff’s Office is blaming a faulty air conditioning system for the death of a police dog during last week’s extreme heat, saying Monday that the system appeared to be working a short time before it failed.
The new details shed light on the circumstances surrounding the death of Leonidas, an 8-year veteran of the sheriff’s K-9 unit, whose death the department previously attributed to the failure of an alarm that is supposed to be triggered when the car gets too hot.
Deputy Daniel Coppola had left Leonidas in the patrol vehicle while responding to a call that did not require the dog’s assistance. Handlers routinely respond to standard patrol calls in addition to calls requiring their dogs. Leonidas was trained to find explosives, including guns, and “very frequently” helped with tracking and apprehending suspects, Deputy Chief John Lubrant said…