Criminal charges dropped against vet who saved dog

WXIA-TV, Atlanta

ATHENS, Ga. — Authorities dropped charges against a veteran who broke a window to free a dog from a hot car, a prosecutor said Monday.

Michael Hammons, 46, who fought in Iraq during the first Iraq war, jumped into action May 9 when he saw a dog inside of a rapidly heating Mustang at a Athens-area shopping center. He broke the window of the car with a piece of his wife's wheelchair to free the dog.

A group of shoppers had been worried about the Yorkie mix before Hammons' action and called police. The owner, whose name was not released, said she had been gone 5 minutes.

"I knew the dog was in distress," Diane McGuire-Byard of Commerce, Ga., told the Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald.

Afterward at the insistence of the dog's owner, Hammons was arrested for criminal trespass, sparking a debate over the need for laws protecting animals.

On Wednesday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it will be awarding Hammons its Compassionate Action Award. PETA officials said temperatures inside a parked car can jump quickly to 100 to 120 degrees — even on a mild, 78-degree day like Saturday.

Current Georgia law allows someone to break a window to save a person, but not an animal.

"The laws need to be changed to protect the animals, not necessarily the people," said Mark Martin, a pet store owner who rallied around Hammons' cause. "We are the voices for the animals; they can't speak for themselves."

A local Ford dealer offered to replace the smashed car window for free.

Ken Mauldin, district attorney for the Superior Court of Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties, said the car's owner agreed with his decision to drop the charges.