The Unfortunate Death of K9 Daisy

Back on Oct 19th I wrote about our Local LEO K9 Daisy passing away after a citizen here informed me of the death. At the time the only information available was what I requested from the Hardee Sheriff’s Department. This was the only paperwork sent.

There was no mention of Daisy’s death on the Hardee County Sheriff’s Department Website, Facebook or Twitter account. Nothing was in the Herald Advocate. According to a citizen there was a post on Detective Lake’s personal Facebook account but said it had disappeared recently. All seemed extremely odd as an LEO K9 are certified Officers/Deputies and when a K9 dies they are always honored as such. So, why not in this case? Why was it kept so quiet? 

Looking at the one and only report on the death of Daisy it leaves us with many questions like;

• Was Detective Lake certified to use gramoxone as it’s a restricted herbicide?
• Why wait 4 days before taking Daisy to the vet?
• Would he have waited if it were a “Child”?
• Why take Daisy out of town instead of the Local vet the SO uses?

I contacted the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office and asked if there was an Internal Investigation into the death of Daisy and was there an autopsy perfromed. Their response was “No“. I also questioned FDLE about this incident and was told “In reference to the death of the K9, that is also not something that the FDLE  would investigate”. This was after I asked the questions above. 

I sent an email to Sheriff Lanier asking why an Internal Investigation had not been completed, as of today there has been no response. I also contacted Ft Meade Animal Clinic and requested the blood test results for Daisy as according to the Invoice she was tested, but again no response. Why didn’t the Sheriff’s Department have the test results? Was the herbicide poisoning a cover for something else? Is that why Detective Lake waited 4 days to take Daisy to a Vet? 

Taking Daisy out of town is questionable as it appears the SO’s  local Vet is All Creatures here in Wauchula. I requested a picture of Daisy and this is what I received. Flipping the image you can clearly see All Creatures with the Hanchey Rd address. . So again, why take her out of town?

Curious about other cases of K9 deaths I did some searching and found a lot of K9 deaths due to being left in patrol cars. Some of those officers were suspended, terminated and even charged for “aggravated animal cruelty”.

In the case of Daisy the same charges should be filed as Detective Lake knew the dog had chewed into the “water bottle” containing the herbicide, which is a restricted herbicide and the label clearly states “do not put in food or water containers”,  and he waited 4 days before talking her to a Vet. Again, would he have done the same if it were a child? Researching herbicide poisoning I found many cases where people survived by getting treatment fast. If Deputy Lake had taken Daisy immediately to a vet there is a good change she could have been saved. This is gross negligence and conduct unbecoming of a law enforcement officer.

“Gross negligence is the “lack of slight diligence or care” or “a conscious, voluntary act or omission in reckless disregard of a legal duty and of the consequences to another party.”

In the end, a Certified LEO K9 is dead. The Sheriff’s department is out thousands of taxpayer dollars (10K to 25K) and the very Law Enforcement agencies that we depend on obviously could care less that Daisy a Certified LEO K9 died due to the negligence of Detective Lake.

Same Detective involved in off-duty car accident. No charges filed and no citations issued even tho there was damage to Public utilities and they admitted they were speeding.

So currently an LEO K9 is dead. The same Sheriff’s Department is currently under investigation by FDLE for “Missing Drugs” used in (K9) training.

I know there are Officers and Deputies that aren’t happy about things I write about and no, not all cops are bad. But it’s incidents like this that makes the public lose faith and trust with Law Enforcement Officers. 

That being said, it’s up to all the Citizens of Hardee County to demand justice. Doing so is easy. Simply send an email to the following people expressing your concerns on this case and include a link to this page. In the subject line of your email simply say “Request for Investigation into the death of K9 Daisy” Here are the email addresses.

alanier@hardeeso.com
bhaas@sao10.com

If you feel as I do, leave a comment below and please share this page with your friends and family. Share options below.

~Wau

 

UPDATE

UPDATE: After posting this Sheriff Lanier emailed and answered my question “Why wasn’t an Internal Investigation completed?”

His reply was “We did an inquiry which was sufficient”

 

UPDATE Nov 8th 2018.  I still have not received the blood test results from Ft Meade Animal Clinic so I emailed the Sheriff’s Office and asked them to get those records as they are part of the Invoice they sent me. The Sheriff’s Office just replied “Our agency will not be requesting the test results from the Invoice” 🤔. When I asked why they will not send the results they stated they do not have the records therefore no records to give. Funny how Lanier made a decision without knowing HOW Daisy died.

If this incident happened just like Lake declared in his statement, then what do they have to lose by releasing those test results? Or is it like many suspect. The herbicide poisoning was a cover up for something else and those Test Results show it?