Georgia Man Saves Dog In Hot Car, Michael Hammons Arrested For ‘Criminal Trespassing’

When a Georgia man saves a dog in a hot car, you would think some might give him a pat on the back for being a Good Samaritan. Instead, Georgia cops arrested Michael Hammons for “criminal trespassing” because technically he had to do a little bit of breaking and entering on a Ford Mustang in order to do his good deed.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, a couple of bears’ Yellowstone National Park romp was caught on video, but even though the animals charged the crowds once, most of the tourists seemed to treat the potentially dangerous creatures as if they were Yogi the bear.

Witnesses who saw the Georgia man save the dog say they had actually noticed the poor canine before Hammons ever came on the scene. They had called police already, but the Desert Storm veteran said he could not wait any longer.

“I heard someone say there was a dog in distress in a hot car,” said Hammons. “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.”

Witness Diane Byard seemed to agree that waiting was not a good idea.

“If it is 80 degrees outside, within 30 minutes, it will be 114 degrees inside a vehicle, even with the windows cracked,” she said. “[Hammons] says we can’t let this dog die, and he starts smashing the windows.”

But when the owner of the dog came back, she was furious at the damage done to her Mustang and she demanded that the police arrest Hammons on the spot. Although the deputies did arrest the man, the police department was apologetic.

“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 also insisted that she had only been gone five minutes, but Byard disagrees with that assessment.

“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.”

Unfortunately, state law did not allow the Georgia man to save the dog from the hot car. Georgia law does allow someone to break a window to save a child in a hot car, but not a pet.

[Image via Fox 59]