Cop finally taken to task for killing a dog

Yes, it's true. After all too many stories about police officers who almost seemed to relish killing canines -- like the two pooches gunned down at the home of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Mayor Cheye Calvo -- Chandler, Arizona, police Sergeant Tom Lovejoy goes to trial for killing a dog.

Don't get too excited, though. Lovejoy is in hot water for killing a police dog. He left the 5-year-old Belgian Malinois in the back of his car for 13 hours on Aug. 11, 2007. Temperatures outside hit an average high of about 103 at that time of year, so the dog never had a chance inside a sheet-metal oven.

It's nice to see prosecutors take a serious view of the death of a dog at the hands of a police officer. It'd be nicer if that concern extended to dogs in private hands.

As for mishaps -- lethal and nearly so -- aimed at mere people ... Well, I'm not holding my breath.