Crime & Safety

Pup Locked Inside Car on 93-Degree Day, Cops Say

Police said they got a call from a local grocery store customer over the weekend who stumbled upon a dog that was locked inside an SUV in the parking lot. The owner was cited for animal cruelty.

cited a local woman for animal cruelty over the weekend after they reportedly found her pup roasting in a locked car that was parked in a sunny spot with its windows rolled up.

Officers said they went to the lot of Walt's Grocery store, 16039 S. Harlem Ave., , around 4:12 p.m. on Saturday after a witness saw a dog cooped up in a locked 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe. The vehicle was not in the shade and none of the windows were cracked, according to the report. Cops arrived at the scene at 4:21 p.m., the report said.

The temperature outside at that time was 93 degrees, according to the report. The Humane Society of the United States emphasizes that pets should never be left in parked vehicles on hot days, as temperatures inside spike rapidly. The organization says that on an 85 degree day, for example, the temperature inside a car with the windows opened slightly can reach 102 degrees within just 10 minutes. After 30 minutes, the temperature will reach 120 degrees.

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Pets exposed to such heat can suffer irreversible organ damage and death, according to the society's website.

"I requested that the dispatch call Walt's Grocery store and request that the vehicle's owner step outside so I could speak with her," an officer wrote in the report. "At (4:33 p.m.), the offender stepped outside. From the time I was dispatched until the point of the offender stepping outside, a time frame of 21 minutes had elapsed that the dog had been locked inside the vehicle."

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The dog's owner was identified as Ruth E. Crowl, 71, of the 6800 block of South Kingston Road in Tinley Park.  

"I spoke with the offender who became very defensive and agitated," the report said. "She admitted that she had been in the store for 15 minutes prior to stepping outside to speak to me."

Crowl was cited for animal cruelty, police said. She was given a court date of July 30.

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