CHARGES against a military veteran who smashed a car window to rescue a dog from the heat have been dropped.
Michael Hammons was shopping in Athens, Georgia, USA, when he saw three people standing outside the car discussing how to rescue the distressed dog from the hot car. They had already called or a sheriff’s deputy to assist.
Mr Hammons, without saying a word, walked over and smashed a window with a piece of his wife's wheelchair. The witnesses said he then took the dog to a shaded area and gave it water.
Afterwards Mr Hammons, 46, who fought in Iraq, was arrested for criminal trespass at the insistence of the car's owner.
The arrest caused uproar with people demanding the law regarding animals and cars be changed. At the moment state law says you can break a window to rescue 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 window for free.
Now, with the agreement of the car's owner, the charges have been dropped.
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