Investigation Finds Malfunctions Cause Police Dog's Death

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Investigators have ruled out human error in the death of a Brown County police dog at the PGA Championship.

Chief Deputy Todd Delain said Friday the 3-year-old Belgian Malinois named Wix died of heat exhaustion resulting from a string of "unfortunate events that lined up perfectly."

Wix died Aug. 12 at the golf tournament in Kohler. He was in a squad car parked under direct sunlight in a field.

The investigation determined that a blower motor in the car's air-conditioning system stopped working, and a warning device called a Hot-N-Pop failed to sound an alarm or lower the car's windows. Testing revealed that an automatic shut-off setting caused the device to deactivate improperly.

Safety changes are planned in response to Wix's death. His handler will soon get a new dog.