Local & State Headlines

Heat claims life of dog, leads to arrest

• With temperatures soaring, police say it’s not a good idea to leave pets or children in cars even for a short period of time.

Joshua Brown

ALBANY —Monday’s sweltering temperatures claimed the life of a lap dog police believe had been left inside a car parked outside a state government office building.

Bickie Lynn Bradfield, 25, was arrested Monday, charged with a misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals after officers say she left a Pekingese dog in a 2001 Kia Sophia at the state Human Resources complex on East Oglethorpe Boulevard around 2 p.m., Albany Police Spokesperson Phyllis Banks said.

When officers arrived at the scene, Banks said they found the dog in distress in the car, which had its windows up.

Banks said the officers took the dog to a local veternarian to be checked, but it died upon arrival at the facility.

“The officers believe the dog had been in the car with the windows up for about an hour Monday afternoon,” she said. “It was just too hot for it inside the car.”

With temperatures hovering around the century mark and humidity making for sweltering 105-plus-degree heat indexes, police caution the public against leaving any living organism — dog, cat or human — inside a car alone during the daylight hours.

“It’s just too hot to leave anything alive in your car,” Banks said. “Whether it’s a child or a dog or cat. Be mindful that whatever the temperature outside of the car is, it is worse inside the car.”

Jail officials said Bradfield posted a $2,000 property bond Tuesday and was released. If convicted, she could face a hefty fine or up to a year in jail.

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