A customer at the Evans Walmart was arrested last week for leaving a dog and six puppies in a hot car when the heat index was 97 degrees, according to a sheriff’s report.
Gerard Antoine Green, 41, was charged June 1 with cruelty to animals.
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A sheriff’s report explains how the incident unfolded:
A deputy responded to an animal complaint, where six puppies were found by several bystanders in the parking lot, unsupervised and running loose. The puppies had come from a dark colored SUV with a broken driver side window. An adult female dog was still inside, panting and drooling.
“I observed no water present inside the vehicle for the dogs to have access to,” the deputy wrote in the report. “The vehicle was parked in the far back of the parking lot away from the business and other vehicles. The vehicle was left unsecured with the key in the interval.”
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The officer placed the puppies and dog in the rear of their patrol vehicle with the A/C running until Animal Services arrived. The inside of the vehicle was “unsanitary and unsafe condition, with several amounts of fecal and urine all inside the vehicle,” the report says.
Green eventually came forward and claimed the vehicle and dogs.
“Gerard stated he had just been in Walmart for several minutes, but could not give an approximate time,” the report said. “Gerard stated that he did leave the window up on the driver side to keep the dogs from getting out, and believed someone tried to break into his vehicle.”
Animal services arrived and took the dogs into their custody, and Green was arrested with a special condition of his bond to “not possess any animals.”
Greg Rickabaugh is the Jail Report contributor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at greg.rickabaugh@theaugustapress.com
