Police animals have an honorable job but it can also be dangerous.

And they are loyal to their partners as their partners are loyal to them.

Officer D. Herrejon has been partners with his horse, Charlotte, for the past four years. She arrived at the Houston Police Department (HPD) as an unstarted 2-year-old Tennessee Walker from Oklahoma.

Charlotte was a star in the HPD Mounted Patrol’s barefoot and natural horsemanship programs. And she passed her evaluation with flying colors. That’s why she was patrolling the streets of Houston in no time.

And she was amazing at her job.

She assisted Officer Herrejon with nabbing the bad guys and assisting the children. Unfortunately, that’s what she was doing when she met her untimely fate.

It was an ordinary day patrolling the streets of Houston. Suddenly, a loud noise spooked Charlotte from behind.

“The horse got spooked by something from behind, and when she spun around, she actually struck a cement truck,” Keese Smith, spokesman for the Houston Police Department, announced.

Officer Herrejon was thrown off to the ground by Charlotte and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. Fortunately, he had no grave injuries.

As for Charlotte, her injuries from the accident were severe and they had to euthanize her on the scene.

Officer Herrejon was able to return to Charlotte to spend her last moments together. He laid on the ground with her, giving her words of comfort to help ease her passing.

And that was so important, those last moments.

It was comforting for Charlotte to see the last face she saw and the voice she heard belonged to the person who supported her.

There was an animal lover named Jessi, who asked her vet a hard question and this is what her vet said.

“Asked my vet what the hardest part was about his job &he said when he has to put an animal down 90% of owners don’t actually want to be in the room when he injects them so the animal’s last moments are usually them frantically looking around for their owners & [to be honest] that broke me,” Jessi posted on her Twitter account.

Charlotte may not technically be a pet but she’s still an animal who loves and is loved by a human.

Even the Animal Justice League agreed.

“We admire the heart & strength of this officer because as you know, when you lose an animal, to be with them during their last breath is a heartbreaking & tough thing to do,” Animal Justice League wrote on their Facebook post.

And it was also heartbreaking for the people of Houston, who thought highly of the police and their animals.

“I admire all our officers who are striving to fairly and sincerely protect everyone and I respect them for the difficult jobs they do. So sorry for your loss of Charlotte. Praying for Officer Herrejon and all his fellow Houston officers,” Angela Smucker shared.

And they made sure to pay tribute to both Charlotte and Officer Hejjeron.

“RIP Officer Charlotte. One of the many highly trained horses that serve and protect. Now they have an angel to watch over and protect them as well as all mounted police officers. Thank you for your service sweet girl,” Karen Dellolacono added.

Watch the video below to see this wonderful tribute to Charlotte.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: YouTube – Zoo Land, Facebook – Animal Justice League, TODAY, Facebook – Houston Police Department, PEOPLE, Flickr – HPD Media