Demand Sandy Springs, GA Police Get Training For Animals Left In Hot Cars!

I had to take the last few hours to cool off (no pun intended) before I wrote this.

So, today, Kirk and I were eating a hotdog at Cheeseburger Bobby’s on the corner of Roswell and Hammond. Before my food came, a cute little girl came running in and asked, “does anyone in here drive a Silver Lexus SUV?” I was like, “why?” And she explained that there was a dog in a hot car. She said it had been 10 minutes and no one had been back to the car.

Well, you all know how I feel about dogs- so I immediately went out to check it out.

There was a little white dog, about the size of my Westie, and he was breathing 90 miles a minute, and his entire face was wet. He was whining and could barely bark. The window was cracked, but not but about 3 -4 inches the little girl was very skinny and little, so I asked her if she could reach in and hit the unlock button. She did, and it set off the alarm. But the door did not open.

There was another lady who was concerned, and she called the Sandy Springs police. I took off and went into all the neighboring businesses and screamed, “hey, anybody leave a dog in a silver SUV?”

I then went across into The Flying Biscuit, and I went table to table. I went up to the dog-owners table (although I didn’t know it at the time), and she never looked up. Then, I went back out to meet the cops. Several minutes later, 2 African-American bike cops came up. I explained the situation in a calm manner. Mind you, by this time, the dog was nearly passed out, and had quit making any noise.

The officers had CLEARLY not been trained to handle this situation. The first officer said, and I quote, “Well I don’t know if I can bust the window out. I’m not an expert on this, and so we need to try to find the owner. Meanwhile the horn is beeping from the little girl setting the alarm off.

I was like “Well, I am an expert, as is my physician husband over there, and we both feel you need to bust out the window. Then they stepped to the side and were whispering. Then I raised my voice, and was like “What if this was a child, would you be acting any differently?” And then the officer said, well, yes, because it’s a child.”

I explained, “well dogs are like children to me, and I want you to bust this window NOW. “

Just as I said this, the lady from Flying Biscuit, who I had notified 10 minutes earlier, came “sliding out” in a very casual manner- and yelled across to me, “You need to mind your own business. I cracked the window for him” Well, I admit, I raised my voice, and said, “let me see you sit your ass in this car for 20 minutes and see how you feel!!” then she charged at me, yelling “ghettoisms and profanity.” And (surprise) the officers immediately sided with her, and asked me to step aside, or I was going to be arrested for “disturbance of the peace.”

I was flabbergasted, upset, dumbfounded, and totally disappointed in the Sandy Springs Police Department.

Not only did the woman not get a single word of reprimand, but they were “shucking and jiving” with this woman like they were old friends. At one point, one of the officers said to her “things happen, right? When you gotta have pancakes, you gotta have pancakes.”

I was like, “Are you fucking kidding me right now, get the goddamned dog out of the fucking car you dipshits!!!”

She then opened the door, and picked the dog up. He was exhausted, and totally wet with lather. He was almost limp. And as dogs do, being ever-forgiving, he licked her neck. Then, she yells, “see he’s fine!”

I was like, “can I please show you a video showing how hot a car can get in 88-degree heat? She was like, “no. I’m not interested in anything you have to say.” Then the officer threatened me, and said if I didn’t go back inside, I was going to be arrested.

I don’t know what kind of training the Sandy Springs Police is getting on dogs and children left in cars, but CLEARLY it is inadequate. After going inside, I was so pissed, that I came back out, and asked the officer for a reference number of the incident. He gave me a number on a card. It was “Event” number 2018200491. I got the card from the officer, and went back in to ask if anyone had witnessed the entire thing. There was a SS local that said she saw the entire thing, and her name is Kelly Dean.

It is my hope that I might be able to go to Sandy Spring Police Department, and offer free training to the officers on how radiant heat can dramatically change the temperature in the car very rapidly.
I must say, I have always been proud of our police here. But today, I felt like these two bike cops sided with the lawbreaker, and threatened me for being concerned for the dog. I will be sending out a petition for everyone to sign below, I hope I can get enough signatures to demand extra training for our police force before the hottest months of summer occur. Please take the time to sign it, as I will submit it to the Mayor’s office as soon as we reach a substantial number of signatures.

Thank you. And please, don’t leave your dogs in your car. On an average day, with the temperature at 88 degrees, the inside of a car can get to 140 degrees.

And to the two cops that came to this incident today, SHAME ON YOU!!!!