State investigates suspicious death of K-9 Ike

The Arizona Department of Public Safety said Tuesday it will investigate the tragic and suspicious death of a Maricopa K-9.

On Monday night, Maricopa Police Chief Steve Stahl announced in a YouTube video titled “Critical Incident Notification” that the dog, Ike, died from “heat-related causes.”

Stahl said he had requested DPS to look into the K-9’s death over the weekend for accountability and transparency reasons. The circumstances of the Friday night incident are unknown and the animal’s department handler was not identified.

K-9 Ike had served the Maricopa police force for almost 11 years before his passing, Stahl said.

“Officers and professional veterinary staff locally and in metropolitan Phoenix did everything possible to save his life,” Stahl said. “Ike passed away on Saturday June 27th at approximately 4 a.m. This loss impacts us all greatly.”

Sgt. Kameron Lee of DPS said Tuesday morning that he could only confirm that the agency was in the early stages of conducting an investigation.

“We don’t have any additional information to release at this time,” Lee said.