Former Cherokee County School police officer Lt. Dan Peabody and his police K-9 named Inka, who died from heat exhaustion after being left inside a police cruiser.

Former Cherokee County School police officer Lt. Dan Peabody and his police K-9 named Inka, who died from heat exhaustion after being left inside a police cruiser. / Cherokee County School District

Earlier this month, a police K-9 assigned to the Cherokee County School District died from heat exhaustion. The four-year-old dog named Inca was left inside his handler's police cruiser at the end of their shift. This isn't the first police K9 in recent years to die in Georgia from heat exhaustion. George Mathis decided to look deeper into this problem. He's a columnist with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and he says Georgia leads the nation when it comes to K9 officers dying in hot cars. 

Tags: dogs  Cherokee County  police  Atlanta  Georgia