Michael Hammons of Athens, Georgia was charged with criminal trespassing after freeing a small Pomeranian mix in distress from a hot car outside a store.
Witnesses say that while a group of shoppers waited for police to arrive to free the dog, the Desert Storm veteran smashed the window of the silver Mustang using his wife's wheelchair leg.
'He says we can't let this dog die, and he starts smashing the windows,' bystander Diane Byard told WXIA
'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.'
Deputies say the car's owner came out of the store furious and insisted Hammons be arrested.
When asked if they would have arrested Hammons if the owner hadn't insisted, Oconee County Chief Deputy Lee Weems said no. Deputies did not identify the woman. She received a citation from animal control for leaving the dog in the hot car.\
Georgia state law allows an individual to break a window to save a child in distress but not a pet. Animal advocates say they are working to change the law.
'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 told My Fox Atlanta.
Now Hammons is facing charges and a bill to fix the broken glass on the woman's car.
But he says he doesn't regret his action one bit.
'I knew there'd be consequences, but it didn't matter. Glass, they make new glass every day, but they could never replace that dog,' Hammons said.
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