A veterinarian alleges the LA County Sheriff's Department covered up the hot-car death of a K9 named Spike

• In 2020, a K9 with the LA County Sheriff's Department, Spike, died after being locked in a hot car, per a new lawsuit.
• The suit was filed by a veterinarian who alleged her name was used in an effort to cover up the death.
• Her lawsuit alleges there was no investigation into Spike's death, and no discipline for his handler.

A veterinarian is suing over the death of a police dog named Spike, who was trapped for hours in a hot patrol car, and what she alleges was a cover-up within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department that involved fabricating her medical opinion to evade public scrutiny over the death.

Yolanda Cassidy, a veterinarian with expertise in "tactical K9 casualty care" for working police dogs, alleged in her lawsuit filed Thursday that the LA County Sheriff's Department destroyed her reputation by creating a memo that falsely cited her, and attributed Spike's death to causes other than the hot car.

Spike was a 6-year-old black Labrador who was assigned to the department's Arson Explosives Detail, where he would detect accelerants commonly used to start fires. But in September 2020, Spike's handler left him in a patrol car with the windows up for several hours, perhaps forgetting to leave the car running and the air conditioner on, the lawsuit said.

"Subsequently, due to negligence or recklessness, poor Spike died a horrible, torturous death," the lawsuit said.

Two years later, when a whistleblower filed a lawsuit and the media began covering Spike's death, then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva and his colleagues released a "fraudulent memo that further covered up the killing of Spike," Cassidy's lawsuit said.

That memo falsely quoted Cassidy, and attributed Spike's death, in part, to "an underlying medical condition" and to possibly choking on his own vomit. In reality, Cassidy never once examined Spike, and wasn't even working the day Spike was rushed to the vet after being discovered in the hot car, according to the lawsuit.

Spike's death has not been properly investigated, and his handler has not been disciplined, the lawsuit alleges

Villanueva and his fellow department officials "figured they needed to cite to a veterinarian to make their lies look credible. So they fabricated that Ms. Cassidy was the veterinarian who saw Spike when he died," the lawsuit alleged. 

Villanueva did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. The LA County Sheriff's Office told Insider in a statement that it couldn't provide details due to pending litigation.

"The tragic death of our beloved Department K-9 named 'Spike' is unfortunate," the statement said. "However, we can say a supervisory inquiry was conducted in 2020 and precautionary steps have been taken to ensure these incidents do not occur in the future."

Upon seeing the "fraudulent memo," Cassidy was "horrified seeing her name connected to such incompetence and criminality," the lawsuit said. Though she tried to correct the record by speaking to media outlets, her lawsuit alleged that Villanueva has continued to make false statements and insist upon the memo's accuracy.

In the days after Spike's death, Cassidy even heard from sheriff's department employees pleading with her to "do something" out of fear the dog's death would be covered up, the lawsuit said. To date, there has been no investigation within the sheriff's department, and no discipline for Spike's handler, according to the lawsuit.

"Spike was not just a dog; he was a cop who found evidence and protected the public," the lawsuit said. "He should have been honored and given respect for his service and his death should have been properly and honestly investigated."