Corporal Josh Coleman was cruelly negligent and careless with the life of his partner. His terrible neglect directly caused the death of a beloved and valued member of the community and the Gulf Shores Police Department. 

By their own account Gulf Shores PD valued and mourns the death of Mason. He is heavily featured on all of their social media, even now.Yet Corporal Coleman has received nothing more than sanctions, while a regular citizen could face years in jail for the same crime. If Corporal Coleman cannot be trusted with the welfare of his own partner, how can he be trusted to protect and serve the people of Gulf Shores? 

He was unable to attend a city Expo while keeping track of one service animal without incident. That gives us great concern over his ability to handle the high-pressure and intense situations often faced by Police Officers. We strongly feel Corporal Coleman should be asked to resign immediately and standard safety measures (such as heat controls, water bowls and alarms) be used with ALL K-9 officers, even service dogs. 

This incident should never be repeated. That it happened in a unit of professional officers trained to handle K-9 partners is absolutely inexcusable. Let's all make sure this never happens again.

Mason was only 3 years old. He should have lived at least another decade doing what he loved best; serving the people of Alabama.