When she sees the police, she collapses! (Video)

Crystal Marie Houk, was audibly inconsolable as deputies checked out the backseat. She was in tears when she returned to her car and realized her terrible mistake. A woman has been charged with animal cruelty after her pet dog died when she allegedly left it in a hot car for hours while she went shopping. Police say the female pit bull mix was locked inside a Toyota Camry in a Walmart parking lot in Escambia County, Florida. The high temperature was 32, but it felt closer to 38 degree Celsius. The incident was captured on video.

Houk was charged with one count of animal cruelty, a third-degree felony. She told deputies she left the air conditioner running, but a Walmart employee says when he opened the door, hot air was blowing. “You’ve got a high temperature, in the middle of the summer. You’ve got a closed door, and you’ve got hot air blowing on an animal like that, and ultimately, this is what happens,” said Chef Deputy Chip Simmons with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

Police waited for her to come back

Houk also said she wasn’t in the store long, but surveillance cameras show the dog was left inside the car for about four hours. “Animal control tried to take the temperature of the animal itself and found that the temperature of the animal pegged out the thermometer that they were trying to use,” said Simmons. The dog’s temperature was so high the thermometer couldn’t register it as it only read up to 41C. Watch the video, and remember: never leave a dog in a hot car.