ATHENS, Ga., May 12 (UPI) -- Police in Athens, Ga., have arrested a man who broke the window of a hot car to free a dog locked inside.
Michael Hammons, a Gulf War veteran, told WXIA that he approached the parked Ford Mustang after he "heard someone say there was a dog in distress."
Hammons then used the leg of his wife's wheelchair to break the window and rescue the small Pomeranian mix.
But Hammons told My Fox Atlanta that the owner of the Mustang and the dog rushed out of a nearby shopping center and said she would press charges, arguing that she had only intended to leave the dog in the car for five minutes.
Oconee County Chief Deputy Lee Weems said officers didn't want to arrest Hammons.
"We didn't want to charge him, but he told us he broke the windows and when you have a victim there saying she wants him charged, we had no other choice," Weems said.
Hammons said he has no regrets.
"I've got PTSD and I've seen enough death and destruction," Hammons said. "And I didn't want anything else to happen if I could prevent it."
According to the Athens Banner-Herald, the owner of the Mustang was cited for leaving a dog in a hot car.
Georgia law protects people who break into cars to save human beings, but there are no similar provisions for saving animals.
