Would you be legally justified in breaking into the car to save the animal?
That's a question passersby faced and syracuse.com readers raised when a dog died Monday after being left inside a hot car at the New York State Fair for four hours.
The situation can be a potentially tricky one. In July, after several instances of dogs being left in hot cars, a police chief in Worcester, Massachusetts warned that people who broke vehicle windows to save pets could face charges.
But a humane society broke a car window in Canada to rescue a Jack Russell Terrier that medical professionals said was 15 minutes away from death. In that instance the owner was fined.
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, reached by phone Tuesday night, said the law would generally favor someone if there was immediate danger.
"There's absolutely no way in the world we'd prosecute someone for trying to save the animal," Fitzpatrick said.
A group of people tried to rescue a 2-year-old black Lab that died Monday afternoon while its owner, Patrick J. Oneill (aka Patrick O'Neill), attended the State Fair for four hours.
The New York State Police later charged Oneill with animal cruelty.
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| Patrick O'Neill |
Oneill and his girlfriend went into the fair about 10:30 a.m. and didn't return until about 2 p.m. The dog had no water and just one window of the car was cracked open, state police said.
Jack Bocchino, of Kirkville, said he watched one man try to push down the front passenger window of the car with his fingers. The dog, named Ali, was slumped on the floor beneath the steering wheel.
Bocchino said several other people were there, including a young girl. Bocchino said he wondered if her arm was small enough to get inside to open the lock, but there wasn't enough room even for her.
"We discussed smashing the window," Bocchino said. "But no one knows what their rights are."
Bocchino said he walked to a camper near the parking lot entrance and asked the occupants if they had a tool kit. They didn't. So he found a rock and headed back to the car to smash a window. That's when he saw a trooper coming.
Troopers said Monday that when they arrived Oneill had already taken his dog out of the car.
Troopers tried to cool the dog with ice and water, Keller said, but it was too late.
Generally speaking, a citizen can break the law to prevent a greater evil from occurring, Fitzpatrick said. He cited breaking into a house to save someone in danger or breaking into a car to rescue a child as examples.
"The first thing to do is contact law enforcement," he said.
But if that isn't practical and someone is in imminent danger, use common sense, Fitzpatrick said. The worst-case scenario would most likely be a civil matter, not criminal charges, he said, citing Article 35 of the New York Penal Law.
According to Article 35, conduct that would otherwise be an offense is justifiable and not criminal when the conduct is "necessary as an emergency measure to avoid an imminent public or private injury which is about to occur."
(Syracuse.com - Sept 4 2013)
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