Police say 50-year-old Jerry Mason stopped at a BP gas station in Cartersville with his cocker spaniel Scotty in the back of a metal box U-Haul truck.
John Artemis first saw a frantic woman at the back of the truck at the Cartersville gas station. Then he saw a man trying to pull the dog free from a lawn chair.
"I asked him to stop and he didn't listen to me, so I had to pull him away because he was hurting the dog," said Artemis.
Artemis says he untangled the lifeless canine from the chair and carried it to the blacktop. He says he then poured jugs of water over Scotty to cool him down.
"I was out here pouring gallons of water. I couldn't tell you how many, it had to have been a hundred gallons," said Artemis.
John Artemis said that as he was trying to douse the dog with water, he noticed that snipped at him in self-defense, which he tried to take advantage of.
"So every time he lifted his head up to try to bite me, I'd pour some water," said Artemis.
Artemis said that he called 911. Animal control took Scotty to an animal hospital. Cartersville police took the dog's owner, 50-year-old Jerry Mason, to jail, charging him with animal cruelty.
"I asked him, ‘Didn't you know it would get hot back there with all the reports of animals dying in locked cars.' And he said, ‘Well I didn't think an hour was too long of a time for the dog to be back there,'" said Lt. Mark Camp of the Cartersville Police Department.
Camp says Mason told him that he placed Scotty in the back of the truck when the dog became unruly in the cab. Mason was traveling from Savannah to Kentucky, according to police.
"If you own a dog, that's like your child. You just took another child in. They can't help themselves," said Artemis.
A representative from Bartow County Animal Hospital wouldn't discuss specifics of the dog's injuries.
Police said that it will be up to the courts to determine if Scotty is returned to his owner.
Mason remained behind bars at the Bartow County jail on Monday.
(Fox5 - August 6, 2012)
