CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Brooks County Sheriff's Department K-9 officer, Echo, reunited with his handler Wednesday evening.
Brooks County Judge Eric Ramos confirmed to 3NEWS on Wednesday that Sheriff Urbino "Benny" Martinez has made the decision to return the county's K-9 officer, Echo, to his former handler.
Martinez initially told 3NEWS on Monday that the department did not intend on retiring the K-9.
Echo is Brooks County's first and only K-9 officer.
Over the weekend, video showing Echo pacing circles in pooling rainwater inside his outside kennel went viral with many responding with concern over the K-9 officer's safety.
3NEWS spoke with the Brooks County Sheriff's Department on Monday about how the K-9 was left in these conditions and future plans for the four-legged officer.
Echo's former handler, former deputy John Gomez, allegedly emailed a resignation letter to both Sheriff Benny Martinez and Commander Jorge Esparza on July 16.
According to Martinez however, no email or correspondence from Gomez came to the office.
Gomez says his commander, Esparza, verbally acknowledged the resignation email, but neither Martinez nor Esparza party communicated back regarding arrangements for the K-9.
"Actually his last day was going to be, I believe on the email he said August, probably at the end of this week," Martinez said. "But he elected to just cut himself from his commitment from that particular evening, so that kind of changed the whole make up of the setting."
Following alleged verbal orders from Esparza, Gomez returned K-9 Officer Echo back to the Brooks County Sheriff's Office.
"The handler brought him in on Thursday morning, I'd say around three o'clock in the morning and set him up there," Martinez said. "And that wasn't brought to our attention until the next morning, Friday morning. He had shelter, he was on a gravel type of surface."
The location of where Echo was dropped off, along with consistent rain in the forecast led to the wet conditions shown in the video.
"The handler set him up in an area where we usually have a stream or a pool of water that filters through there," Martinez said.
According to the sheriff, Echo was left in the kennel while deputies were busy tending to emergency responses as Brooks County dealt with flooding from last week's rains. He says that is when Friday's plans to relocate Echo came into play.
"The K-9 was comfortable, okay," he said. "And he was taken to a dry place, he was comfortable there, too. He did have water, he might have spilled the water, K-9s have a tendency of doing that. But he was fed, he was comfortable because they're K9s, they adjust."
Martinez declined to answer where Echo was as of Monday, but told 3NEWS that he is safe.