Photo: kob.com
If you’re ever in or passing through Albuquerque, New Mexico, and you notice a child or an animal locked inside a hot car, know that you’re legally allowed to break into it to rescue them.
Gerasimos Klonis didn’t know that but he still listened to his gut feeling and broke the window of a parked car, after noticing a distressed dog locked inside. Klonis tells KOB4 that he knew he might get in trouble with the police for it, but he couldn’t just wait by and look while the dog died.
It happened over the weekend, in the parking lot of a local eatery. Klonis was there with his girlfriend, and had just pulled into the parking lot when they heard the dog before they saw him. In the car next to him was a pooch that was desperately clawing at the window and the door, distressed from the heat.
“The dog is sticking its snout out of a one to two-inch crack trying to breathe,” Klonis tells the media outlet. “It was obviously struggling to breathe.”
His girlfriend called the police and they waited outside the car for 10 minutes, and no one showed up. Then Klonis called 911 too, and they waited some 10 minutes more. At the end of this long wait, Klonis realized he needed to act if he wanted to save the poor animal, so he took a crowbar from his trunk and set to work.
“The longer I waited the more I was thinking about this moral dilemma to myself the more the answer became obvious to me because the dog was in clear distress,” he says.
Before smashing the window, though, he made sure his GF was recording his every move. This way, he had proof that he acted in the animal’s best interest and not motivated by personal gain.
Police arrived shortly after, as did animal welfare. Klonis and the officials confronted the owner, who said that he didn’t know if he couldn’t bring the pooch inside. He could have if he wanted to, as the dog is a service animal.
The owner was charged with animal cruelty and is facing a fine or 90 days in jail. Klonis got the a-OK from APD, who told him he won’t have to pay in any way for the damage to the car.
It happened over the weekend, in the parking lot of a local eatery. Klonis was there with his girlfriend, and had just pulled into the parking lot when they heard the dog before they saw him. In the car next to him was a pooch that was desperately clawing at the window and the door, distressed from the heat.
“The dog is sticking its snout out of a one to two-inch crack trying to breathe,” Klonis tells the media outlet. “It was obviously struggling to breathe.”
His girlfriend called the police and they waited outside the car for 10 minutes, and no one showed up. Then Klonis called 911 too, and they waited some 10 minutes more. At the end of this long wait, Klonis realized he needed to act if he wanted to save the poor animal, so he took a crowbar from his trunk and set to work.
“The longer I waited the more I was thinking about this moral dilemma to myself the more the answer became obvious to me because the dog was in clear distress,” he says.
Before smashing the window, though, he made sure his GF was recording his every move. This way, he had proof that he acted in the animal’s best interest and not motivated by personal gain.
Police arrived shortly after, as did animal welfare. Klonis and the officials confronted the owner, who said that he didn’t know if he couldn’t bring the pooch inside. He could have if he wanted to, as the dog is a service animal.
The owner was charged with animal cruelty and is facing a fine or 90 days in jail. Klonis got the a-OK from APD, who told him he won’t have to pay in any way for the damage to the car.
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