Coco the Chihuahua was yelping, drooling, panting and intermittently closing her eyes by the time an Acworth cop unlocked the SUV with his baton through the barely open window.
The officer took black-and-brown Coco out of the vehicle parked at the Walmart on Cobb Parkway that 90-degree day July 11,and put her in his cruiser with the air conditioning on the highest setting and a bowl of water.
Using a laser thermometer, the officer took a reading of the floorboard behind the driver’s seat in the car where Coco had been. The reading was 136 degrees. The dashboard was 169 degrees.
Police were alerted to the dog by a woman who saw Coco in the car, waited 20 minutes, then called authorities.
According to an arrest report, the owner Cameta Hibbert, walked out of the store with her children and Oshue Mothersille, who’d been looking after the kids before picking Hibbert up from work.
Both adults were charged with animal cruelty, but only Hibbert, of Acworth, was booked into jail because the children had to be left with an adult, the officer wrote in their report.
When cops patted down Hibbert, they found one pill of Tramadol, a painkiller and controlled substance, in her pocket. She was also charged with drug possession.
Hibbert bonded out of jail Tuesday for $6,820, jail records show. She was not immediately available for comment.
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