The Woodstock Police Department on Friday said goodbye to one of its fallen officers.
The department held a memorial service for its K-9 Spartacus, the three-year-old Belgian Malinois that passed away on June 17.
The memorial service was held at Dupree Park and was attended by officers and K-9s from the Canton Police Department, Holly Springs Police Department, the Cherokee Sheriff's Office and Pickens County Sheriff's Office.
Woodstock Mayor Donnie Henriques and City Council members Bob Mueller and Tessa Basford were also on hand for the ceremony.
The service was slated to start at 10 a.m. However, as Chaplain Ron Anspaugh began opening remarks, an officer standing behind the podium fainted and had to be treated on the scene by paramedics and EMTs.
On June 17, Spartacus was found unresponsive in his handler's patrol vehicle outside his home in Pickens County.
A necropsy determined the K-9 died of heat stroke. Spartacus's handler, Officer Chad Berry, was cited in Pickens County for cruelty to animals and leaving an animal unattended in a parked vehicle without proper ventilation and paid a $325 fine.
Berry was also removed from the Woodstock Police Department's K-9 program and reassigned to its Traffic Enforcement Unit, which resulted in a loss of $6,000 in special duty pay.
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