A woman rescued a dog she noticed inside a hot suffering from heat and broke the car window with her shoe. The incident that happened in Rochester, New York, at East Avenue Wegmans’ parking lot Wednesday night. WHEC News 10 reports that Elizabeth Gibson took matters into her own hands after alerting Wegmans security to the overheated dog inside the car, but they took too long to respond.
The weather was in the 90s and humid, and Gibson says she just went “into action mode.” She told News 10 :
“I wasn’t going to wait. I wasn’t going to watch a dog die.”
The dog had reportedly been inside the hot car for about 45 minutes with the window barely cracked. Gibson recalled the dog’s tongue turning a purplish color and clearly feeling uncomfortable. The woman then took off her shoe, busted the car window, and got the dog out of the vehicle. Gibson proceeded to take the poodle inside the store and doused her with cool water. She said:
“Her skin was so hot to the touch, I was scared it was too late.”
She told WHAM ABC 13 :
“I poured cold water on her. I had her in a bucket where she could stand in the water therefore her pads circulating blood as quickly as possible.”
Police argued that the dog had been inside the hot car for less than 30 minutes, but Gibson insisted it was 45 minutes.
The dog was reunited with her owner soon afterwards, who, Gibson said, were in tears about the situation. The owner’s mother wasn’t pleased about the broken car window, however. According to the report, the dog was happy to see the owners — wagging her tail, etc.
No charges were filed against the owners nor Elizabeth Gibson.
Lollypop Farm Director of Law Enforcement Reno DiDomenico urges that owners should watch their dog on hot days and warns good Samaritans to be totally sure an animal is suffering before attempting to rescue it by damaging someone else’s property:
“If you feel the dog is definitely in distress, like he is passed out, I would at that point then break the window and your good Samaritan laws do take place in that situation, but if you have any doubt it’s better to wait for the authorities.”
Police explain that the dog in this rescue from the hot car appeared unharmed from the incident. Gibson isn’t sorry for what she did because she acted on what she felt was the right thing to do at that time.
“I was acting after going through certain steps which made me feel better and I don’t feel at all guilty of doing anything wrong.”
A very similar situation happened a few weeks ago when a man in broke a car window to save a dog suffering from the heat. The Inquisitr also reported on this.
[Image via WHEC.com ]
