Man saves dog in hot car, but gets arrested anyway

A Georgia man was arrested after he smashed a car window to rescue a dog from a hot car.

I've got PTSD, and I've seen enough death and destruction," Hammons said. "And I didn't want anything else to happen if I could prevent it."

Witnesses say when the owner of the car came out of the store, she was furious, and demanded deputies take action.

"We would not have made those charges on our own," said Oconee County Chief Deputy Lee Weems. "The deputies on scene say the owner of the car and of the dog was very insistent that he be charged with criminal trespassing."

The dog's owner told police she had only been gone five minutes.

"It wasn't just five minutes like the lady stated, it was a lot longer," Byard said. "I personally felt the heat in the car; I saw the dog panting. This dog was in distress."

The dog's owner could not be reached for comment Monday.

"If it is 80 degrees outside, within 30 minutes, it will be 114 degrees inside a vehicle, even with the windows cracked," Byard said.

The owner was cited for leaving the dog in the hot car. But without surveillance video, deputies say it is hard to tell how long the dog was actually left in the car.

Georgia state law does allow an individual to break a window to save a child in a hot or cold car, but not a pet. That is something that animal advocates say they are working to change.

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