An Ohio man is facing charges after doing what he thought was the right thing.
Richard Hill tells WKYC he truly believed two dogs were in danger when he broke out the windows of a car.
Hill said he was in a Walmart parking lot in Parma around 4pm Saturday when he saw people standing around a car, concerned about two dogs inside. One bystander called 911 while another went inside to get the vehicle owner to come outside.
Meanwhile, Hill took a hammer from his van and broke a window to rescue the dogs.
Police arrived moments later and cited Hill with criminal damaging.
“The officer was upset with me, told me that I needed to wait on him, that I should not have done that,” Hill told WJW.
Ohio law gives immunity to anyone who breaks a window to rescue an animal or child. Regardless, Hill was cited.
Surveillance video from the store showed that the dogs had only been inside the car for eight minutes. The outdoor temperature at the time was 78 degrees.
“The temperature that day was about 78 degrees,” said Sgt. Dan Ciryak. “So we don’t condone leaving dogs in hot cars but what’s reasonable and not unreasonable.”
Police added that the windows were cracked and the sunroof was open.
Hill says he has no regrets.
“I even told the officer I would do it again in a heartbeat,” said Hill.
