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A Mills police officer faces an animal cruelty charge following the death of a police dog that he allegedly left in a hot patrol car for several hours.

Zachary Miller, who has been with the police department for four years, is charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty in connection with the death of K9 officer Nyx, a drug detection dog.

The officer left the dog in his patrol car for more than six hours while the vehicle was parked outside the police department, according to an investigator's affidavit filed in Natrona County Circuit Court. The car was running, but the air conditioning was off and the windows were up.

“It’s not normal to leave a car running that long,” said Mills police chief Bryon Preciado. “I’m not justifying it. He shouldn’t have been here that long.”

Preciado said there is no policy on the time frame for leaving police dogs in patrol cars.

The affidavit states Miller arrived at the police department at 5:30 a.m. on July 9. Miller left shortly after to respond to a call with the only other officer working that day, Jake Bigelow. The two returned to the police department with Nyx in the vehicle about 6 a.m.