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Good Samaritan helps save dog from hot car

Posted at 11:22 PM, Jul 03, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-04 12:59:10-04

A Boynton Beach police officer was forced to break into a car Monday, after a dog was left inside in the heat of the day.

It happened around 10:30 a.m., in a parking lot near Bank of America off of Woolbright Road.

Ilisa Diamond and her husband had just parked nearby, and noticed the dog inside a locked car.

"We looked and we knew it was wrong, just knew it was immediately wrong," she told us in a FaceTime interview from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. They were preparing to fly home to New Jersey.

"As soon as we got out of the car, we thought oh my god, are we being taped? Like on an episode of What Would You Do? We just did what we thought was right," she said.

Ilisa, who has 4 foster dogs at home, noticed the car was not running and all the windows were up. She called the Boynton Beach non-emergency line. Officers believed it was at least 110 degrees inside, they got to work to free the male pit bull.

"He didn't even flinch when the police officer banged on the window trying to open it," she recalled

"You guys are heroes. Thank you," you can hear her say on the video.

Less than 2 minutes after authorities showed up, the was dog free.

"The dog looked like a great dog, he looks like he was really well cared for. I think the young girl needs education and I think if we could just get education out there, that you cannot leave dogs in cars," she said.

They got him into the shade, and gave him water. Eventually, the dog's owner came out. She told officers she just left the dog park and drove to the bank. When the drive-thru was closed, she ran inside. The woman learned it’s against the law to do this to a dog, she was cited and allowed to take her dog home.

"We have a lot of tragedies that can be avoided by some education," Ilisa said.

We reached out the dog’s owner, she did not want to comment.

In 2016, the governor signed into law, making it legal to break into locked vehicles to rescue pets or people.