ST. PETERSBURG — A St. Petersburg man was arrested on Thursday after deputies had to smash his driver’s side window to rescue his dog from a hot car.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) charged Nicolas Ligonnet, 36, with cruelty to animals.
At about 4:20 p.m., a civilian flagged down a community police deputy to report a dog that had been locked inside a vehicle at Belleair Beach in St. Petersburg.
When deputies arrived, they found the dog in the car that was not running with the windows up, a PCSO report stated. Plus, there was no water in the car.
The temperature outside was about 89 degrees at the time, the report stated.
Efforts were made to locate the registered owner of the vehicle. But after 20 minutes, deputies determined it was necessary to gain access to the vehicle to rescue the dog by breaking the driver’s side window.
The dog was panting and immediately drank three cups of water, the report stated.
Ligonnet returned to the car at about 4:54 p.m. and admitted to leaving the dog in the vehicle while it wasn’t running, the report stated.
He was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on a $500 bond.
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