A Veteran Faces Jail Time for Saving a Dog from a Hot Car

Here's a story to get animal-lovers riled up today! A Georgia man could be behind bars for up to a year after breaking a window to save a dog from a hot car.

Michael Hammons, a Desert Storm veteran, heard from a group of shoppers that there was a dog in distress in the parking lot. It was apparently a very hot day and the dog was trapped inside a car. While the shoppers were waiting for police to arrive, Hammons used his wife's wheelchair to break the car window to save the dog. Hammons said, "I've got PTSD, and I've seen enough death and destruction, and I didn't want anything else to happen if I could prevent it."

Although Hammons' intentions were good, the dog's owner, 22-year-old Elantra Cunningham, was not so happy with him stepping in. The deputies were not going to press charges against him, but Elantra was not-so-nice. She demanded Hammons be charged with criminal trespassing. She told officers that she had only been gone 5 minutes, but the witnesses argued otherwise. There was no surveillance video, so police can't know for sure just how long the dog was left in there.

The law in Georgia says that it is legal to break a car window to save a child, but does not allow the same thing for a pet.

In my personal opinion, this woman is just the worst. In the past few years there have been a number of news stories about pets dying after being left in a car on a hot day. The temperature inside an enclosed car can rise an additional 19 degrees in ONLY 10 MINUTES. To leave your dog inside the car when it's that hot outside, even with the windows cracked, is dangerous and just plain cruel. I get that you're not happy about your window being smashed, but the life of your pet should triumph over that. Plus, the man is a US veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder and you are going to THROW HIM IN JAIL? Are you SERIOUS? Awful, just awful.

What do you think? Do you think this man deserves to go to jail? Or is this woman being ridiculous? Share your opinion below.

Via USA Today