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Maine news, sports, politics, election results, and obituaries A judge ruled in favor of the handler of a comfort dog who died in a hot car in Bangor. Penobscot County Judge Bruce Mallonee found Brodie Hinckley not responsible for the death of Baxter, a 3-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever. He had been charged with a civil violation of animal cruelty after Baxter, a comfort dog, died in Hinckley’s hot car on May 28, 2025 at the Bangor Regional Communications Center. Baxter, a 3-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever, was supposed to provide comfort to Maine’s emergency dispatchers. Hinckley was then the emergency communications director for the Maine Department of Public Safety Communications.
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Staff had complained that the dog had been gassy, multiple witnesses testified. Hinckley was accused of confining Baxter to an enclosed space in extreme heat, under Maine’s cruelty to animals law.
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