Rockton police release bodycam video of traffic stop before dog’s death
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Rockton, IL - The Rockton Police Department posts body camera footage from an incident on Monday, July 27.
Police post a statement and over an hour of body camera video on Facebook from a traffic stop where Waldemar Collazo Gonzalez was stopped for driving over the speed limit.
Gonzalez was pulled over around 12:40 p.m.
During the stop, Gonzalez’s French bulldog, Kody, was also in the vehicle, panting.
Police say his vehicle did not have working air conditioning and was driving to the Milwaukee area with no water in the vehicle.
Gonzalez initially told police he had no identification, but eventually showed police pictures of his driver’s license on his phone.
Police say the images had two different birth dates.
Gonzalez was cited for having a suspended driver’s license and taken into custody, placed in the back of Officer Graham’s vehicle.
When he was in the back of the squad vehicle, Gonzalez asked for Kody to be put in the officer’s vehicle because his vehicle was going to be impounded.
Officer Graham agreed and placed Kody in the back seat of the squad vehicle with Gonzalez.
Police say the air conditioning was on and working in the patrol vehicle.
Officer Graham offers to take Gonzalez and his dog to a nearby gas station. They get to the gas station around 1:30 p.m.
At the gas station, Officer Graham goes inside, grabs two bottles of cold water, tells the clerk about Kody, and says, “I’ll pay for it in a second.”
Gonzalez and Officer Graham pour the cold water on Kody before taking him inside the air-conditioned gas station.
Someone at the gas station dumps ice in a pail of water.
Gonzalez starts to feed ice to Kody and says, “He likes ice,” which leads bystanders in the gas station to grab more ice.
After some time attempting to cool the dog down, Officer Graham asks, “How long have you had him?” Gonzalez responds with, “Literally, like, 20 minutes before you pulled me over.”
According to the Rockton Police Department’s investigation, Kody was in the air-conditioned vehicle for 33 minutes and Officer Graham was with Gonzalez and his dog at the gas station for roughly 46 minutes.
Investigators say Gonzalez and Kody left the gas station just before 4:30 p.m. and bystanders reported Kody’s condition improving.
In Gonzalez’s social media posts reported Kody died around 5:36 p.m.