[News] Woman Cited for Leaving Yorkie in Hot Car
 

Whitefish, Montana - With temperatures hovering around 89 degrees last week, a small dog trapped in a closed vehicle on Central Avenue galvanized a community-wide response, July 21.

Dave Kellogg of Whitefish called the Whitefish Police Department at 3:55 p.m. to report a dog in a vehicle with the windows all the way up.

The white Ford Expedition with Utah plates was parked downtown in front of the Great Northern bar. Kellogg claims the dog was in the car when he arrived at the bar around 3:30 p.m. Other witnesses claim to have seen the dog as early as 3 p.m. With temperatures ranging from 87 to 90-degrees, many of the witnesses felt the animal was in need of help.

Officer Haag responded to the call and upon arrival noticed a Styrofoam cup with water in the passenger side lower door pocket, but the dog, a small Yorkshire terrier, was panting and appeared to be in some distress.

Haag went into the bar to ask if the owner was at the establishment, but nobody responded. By the time Haag was finished with his search, a group of about 10 people had gathered around the vehicle to see what was being done.

Included in the group were Police Chief Bill Dial and Judge Brad Johnson.

"The judge is an animal lover and I'm an animal lover," Police Chief Bill Dial told the Pilot. "There's no excuse for doing that in my mind."

Johnson told the Pilot he and Dial looked into the vehicle and saw a spiral notebook with phone numbers on it. While they were trying to dial the numbers, however, the dog knocked the book over. A wrecker was called at 4:23 p.m. to get the dog out of the vehicle.

Johnson then began a new search for the owners. After looking through a few establishments, he found the family at MacKenzie River Pizza. The call to the wrecker was canceled.

After a bit of questioning, it was discovered that the animal belonged to Cassie Stocker of North Ogden, Utah. When Stocker returned to the vehicle, she claimed to have only been away from the vehicle for 20 minutes, but half a dozen witnesses signed reports that say otherwise.

Stocker was issued a citation for cruelty to animals with instructions to appear in court at 9 a.m. the next day.

Judge Johnson says the Stockers appeared punctually the next day and were a bit overwhelmed when they were told the penalty could be as much as a $1,000 fine and up to one year in the Flathead County jail.

Johnson said Stocker was unsure of what to do at this point, so she was granted a continuance until 9 a.m. on Aug. 9. The case will be assigned to Judge Thomas Tornow because Johnson was involved in the fact-finding.

This is the first case of an animal being left in a hot vehicle this year and Judge Johnson says it doesn't happen very often.

It is unknown at this time if the maximum penalty will be sought against Stocker. Johnson said the typical scenario is, the greater the social harm, the greater the penalty.

http://www.whitefishpilot.com/articl...ews/news03.txt

It's wonderful that so many people wanted to help and the little one was saved. People can be so ignorant!! :mad:

We're all cheering for the judge, and the people who helped the little baby.

I wonder where the dog went.

me too. i'm sure the family got to keep it... if not one of the people probably took it home.
thats terrible. 20 minutes is a long time for anyone.

I read this yesterday,, then, when I got home last night I pulled in my garage, ( not even in direct sunlight) and just sat there to see how long I could stand it,, I even had the windows cracked,,, well...... Let me tell you,,,,
NOT LONG!! I can't imagine 20 mins... in the sun, with windows all the way up.. esp. for a little dog covered in fur! This infuriates me.
I had a run in once with a woman at a drug store, who did the same.
Anyhow,, Please if you see this... anywhere, anytime,,, REPORT IT! It can do serious damage in only minutes.... GET INVOLVED.~~ :thumbup:

OMG THATS TERRIBLE HOW CAN PEOPLE BE SO CRUEL :mad: IM GLAD THERES STILL GOOD PEOPLE OUT THERE WILLING TO HELP :)

I did this too yesterday and let me tell you after 5 minutes I was sweating and having trouble breathing. It's cruel and she should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. :mad:

Why are people so stupid? Instead of jail and a fine they should make her do community service, educating people on the dangers of a hot car.

Ahhh sadly the dog was trapped in there for more than an hour! I read twenty minutes at first too but the witnesses said more like 1 1/2 hours. Poor thing! I know it is unlikely but I hope they put that B*$&h in jail!!!

Why own a dog if you cant think....
 

All I have to is unbelieveable :confused:

I can't stand people sometimes. It really irritates me when people can't take care of their dogs properly. That poor little doggy. I hope the owner is both put in jail for a year and fined $1000. Maybe that will teach her not to leave her dog in the car. What an idiot!

Why do some dog owners just don't ever get it?? :mad: Oh the horrible experience that this poor Yorkie went through.

I honestly think that had I come across this vehicle and noticed this Yorkie in distress I would have to break the window to save the Yorkie and pay the consequences later of "breaking into someone's vehicle". However, i feel once I was placed in front of the judge my crime would be pardoned for my reasons of doing so. ???? Even if not, I wouldn't care. There is just no way I could have ignored seeing that poor Yorkie trapped or waited for the police or ?? to open the door. Time was of importance here and every minute counted!

My blood just boils reading stories of this nature. :mad:

People are always talking about never leaving children/babies in the car in for a minute and now there are some laws against it and the same should go for animals...as dangerous as it is for little kids it is even more for animals as they have no way of getting any help!!!

I am so glad that everything turned out okay...maybe next time that family will think twice before leaving anyone (human or animal) in the car by itself!!!

YOU GO SCHATZIE!! I am right behind you!

As for punishment for the idiot, I think that that they should stick the owner in a car in the hot sun for 1 1/2 hours also- teach them a lesson