A broken window sure can feel like they stole from OP's wallet…

Make them pay for it. They had no right breaking someone elses car window

They probably thought they did have the right though. They have a new (ish) law in some places saying that if you find a pet locked in the car, you can call the cops, and then break the window to save the pet with all legal/financial repercussions falling on the owner. Although I imagine the law doesn't specify requirements for temperature or time, or what happens if it's not actually a living animal. It's kind of a hard question because you shouldn't discourage the would be rescuer from saving a real animal next time, but at the same time, OP shouldn't be punished for doing nothing wrong.

Yes, in this case, they should be punished! You wouldn't encourage a six-year-old to do this, would you? Anyone who cannot tell the difference between a children's toy and an actual dog should be considered in the same category.

Whoever did it is barking mad.

*talking to a person in a car right next to the truck the kid was in. It's shocking how many more calls come in for pets in cars than kids. Both are bad, but come on. I ran out of time to edit:/.

Thank you for what you do.

I like you. You're a good cop. Over here I have corrupt cops who ticket me for "running a red light" when I made a right on red turn (legal in the state). Thank you for not being crooked

Thanks for your service! also 18 i dont know where you live but here you have to stop before turning at a red lighy

#18 What #21 said... And adding in to make sure there aren't signs next to the lights strictly stating that you're not allowed to turn on red lights. Many people overlook signs.

While you were in the middle of arresting someone? A distraction so that they can get away maybe?

No, not trying to get away. This happened a couple days ago. I had already handcuffed the lady on a warrant and was getting ready to remove a syringe full of meth, when a DHS worker and a lady in a bullet prof vest approached me (no clue who she worked for, but obviously not a cop if she was asking me to intervene). I don't know how the DHS worker couldn't tell the difference between a toddler and a ten year old, since she works with children, but whatevs. As for everyone saying thanks, I appreciate your support. To the comment about not being a crooked cop, less than .01% of police officers are corrupt, but the ones who are, are obviously more visible. Most are like me, quietly doing our thing. I bought a family a PlayStation this year after theirs got stolen right before Christmas and dropped it off after the kids went to bed, so the single mom could give it to them from her. That happens all the time, with no publicity (which is how it should be, I wouldn't want it any other way). Almost no cop likes to write tickets, we certainly don't write the laws. However, we do get in trouble if we don't enforce them. I get tickets too, I suck it up and pay them because I accepted the consequences when I chose the behavior :).

The light was yellow so I entered the intersection (which is legal to do) and by the time my car was in the intersection the light was red. But yeah I should have stopped anyway. Nonetheless the cops here are still notorious for pulling a lot of people over

Not to be a stickler, but under no circumstances are you allowed to be in the intersection when the light turns red. Yellow means stop, if it's safe to do so. I know it's a pain to sit through another cycle, it's just t-bone accidents are some of the most dangerous, especially if they hit the driver's door. A lot of lights don't have a delay, meaning as soon as your light is red, the other is green, and a lot of people gun it immediately. I know it doesn't seem like it, but tickets exist to try to save lives. I know my city loses money on them. The money it costs the city for me to testify I court (often on overtime, which is a mandatory minimum of 3 hours for 15 minutes of testimony), is far more than the reduced fine that is almost always given. And I hate going to court, for some reason it's always on my day off and during hours I'm not usually awake. Believe me I get it, it sucks, just offering a different perspective that many don't have the opportunity to see.

Right. I should have stopped. It's a gray area though - the problem is, the street was a T-intersection with no incoming traffic to the street I was turning right on. In Texas though I am legally able to drive through the intersection IF and only if the second half of my car was past the limit line prior to the light being red (which happened to be the case after reviewing it). So the ticket was dismissed. But next time I'll stop. I'll admit it's dangerous driving that way

wouldn't 'good Samaritan' laws prevent someone from being prosecuted for this mistake?

Has it occurred to you that maybe you get more calls for pets in hot cars because people tend not to leave their children alone and locked in a hot car?..........

You would hope, but as I've seen kids in cars alone while checking on the calls for pets, I'd say it's not necessarily the case. Having gone to a plethora of calls over the last 8 years, I've observed that people tend to get more upset about pets being mistreated. I think some people may be more hesitant to step in for fear of it being interpreted as undermining someone's right to parent their child. Good Samaritan laws protect those rendering first aid to people. I don't think that would necessarily even protect you breaking a window for a person technically, however, other laws would. In this case, no law would protect you for breaking a window for a stuffed animal...it may have been an honest mistake, but the owner of the car shouldn't have to pay for it. We are all accountable for our actions.

Unfortunately it sounds like it happened while OP was inside, so the best they could report would be "someone smashed my window".

I don't know about this store personally but most have cctv watching the car parks

If there is a dog agonising in the hot car, smashing the window and get it out is the right thing to do. The life of an innocent and neglected being is way more important than a stupid window. Also the owner of car and dog fully deserves the damage.

#38 but the dog...isn't...real....

I'm gonna take a wild guess on this one and say, I don't think the stuffed animal died. Crazy right?

well, you're not wrong

I you failed. Isn't the point of those to treat like real babies? Then again that does suck and I wouldn't want to carry one around in public anyways.

I wouldn't even bring it home! Seriously i get it don't get her prego, i get it kids are ******* mental, but hell no i ain't carrying a fake baby around

I loved that assignment. My best friend quickly took up the role of father and we went all over town with it.

Someone smashed my window ( in a parking garage) to rescue my GPS. My fault for leaving a $30 GPS behind a $500 window. <sigh>

So the integrity of a replaceable window is more important to you than the suffering and potentially death of an innocent living being? Wow.

Your picture is amazing for this comment. It's less, the integrity of the window and more that the dog is known for being the only dog in the world that naturally dislikes people. That and they're raised specifically to be guard dogs for people who really need them means there's a reason someone left the dog in the car. In case that isn't clear enough: many breeders liken them to a loaded gun because of how strong and deadly they are. They aren't raised to be cuddly, they are raised to attack. Moral: be cautious when doing a good deed. It really sucks to see an animal suffering, but sometimes there are reasons for situations that seem ****** up. Not always, but people should still be cautious when taking risky actions.