Vella offers the example of a person coming across a child left in the back seat of the car. “Let’s say you can hear the child yelling, ‘I need help! I need help!’ and the person feels if they don’t break the window right now, the child will die. So you smash it, but you’re acting in good faith. The question is, is that child really in that much distress, or should you just call the police?”
Vella says the same would apply to a dog left in the back of a car, and suggests that “the smartest thing to do is to just call the police, call 911, and let them handle it.”
“If you come across a dog in distress in the back of a car, and call 911, the police and fire will be there in one or two minutes,” he says.
The charge for smashing someone’s car window would fall under mischief, says Vella, which is a criminal offense, and can result in a fine or an arrest. “If charges are warranted, charges will be laid,” he says.
