RHODE ISLAND -- The Johnston police say they’ve made the first arrest under a new Rhode Island law that makes it a misdemeanor to leave an animal in a car under circumstances that threaten its health.
On Monday, a black poodle was left in a car in the parking lot of the BJ’s Wholesale Club store on Stonehill Drive, according to Deputy Police Chief Daniel Parrillo. An anonymous caller alerted the police.
The car’s interior temperature was 124 degrees, according to an animal control officer who found the dog panting and having trouble breathing, Parrillo said. The rear windows of the car were half-open. The officer took a reading of the vehicle’s interior temperature and removed the dog.
David Rodriguez, 48, of Providence, was charged with animal confinement in a motor vehicle prohibited, a misdemeanor.
Parrillo said there was an effort in the store to call Rodriguez over the intercom system but that he has a hearing impairment and did not know he was being summoned. The police left a note saying they had taken the dog and asking him to come in to the station, Parrillo said. Rodriguez came the next day, was released and is scheduled for a July 16 court date.
The dog was all right and placed in custody of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which told the police that this is apparently the first case after the law was signed by Governor Chafee.
The law, which applies to prolonged exposure to heat or cold, carries penalties of up to one year in jail, a fine up to $1,000, or both.
(Providence Journal - July 10, 2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment