Hearing postponed for Montville Township officer charged in police dog's death
By Evan MacDonald, Northeast
Ohio Media Group
Montville Township police dog
Beny died Sept. 28 after being left inside a police cruiser.Courtesy Montville
Township police
MEDINA, Ohio -- A pretrial
hearing for a Montville Township officer whose police dog died after being left
for hours in a police cruiser has been postponed a fourth time.
Sgt. Brett Harrison is charged
in Medina Municipal Court with two counts of companion animal cruelty, both
second-degree misdemeanors. He pleaded not guilty Oct. 29.
Harrison is charged in
connection with the death of K-9 Beny, who died Sept. 28 after being left in a
police cruiser for more than four hours. Beny died as a result of injuries
consistent with heat stroke, police said.
Prosecutor Jeff Holland filed a
motion to continue a pretrial hearing scheduled Monday because he was due in
court in a separate case, an employee at his Sharon Center office said.
Judge Dale M. Chase granted the
motion Friday. A new court date has not been scheduled, according to court
records.
Harrison's court dates have
been postponed three times since arraignment. He was originally scheduled to
stand trial Dec. 10.
A Medina County SPCA agent
gathered evidence in the case by interviewing Montville Township officers,
reviewing security footage and inspecting Harrison's police cruiser. Holland
reviewed that evidence and recommended charges be filed.
Montville Township officials
disciplined Harrison by suspending him two weeks without pay for violating
department policy and procedures. Forty vacation hours were also taken from
him.
Harrison apologized to
Montville Township trustees, residents, the police department, his colleagues
and Beny in a statement released Oct. 7.
