A dog died after it was left in a car for five hours, as temperatures inside reached 135 degrees, and now its owner has been arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty, according to El Cajon police.
On Friday afternoon, a concerned citizen told deputies a distressed pit bull terrier was trapped in a silver Volkswagen Jetta in the El Cajon Courthouse parking lot. Sheriff’s deputies found all the windows rolled up and the doors locked.
Wanting to save the animal, they broke a window, but it was too late. The dog had died, police said.
As El Cajon police officers took over the investigation, they say discovered the temperature in the Jetta was about 135 degrees, though it was 95 degrees outside.
The owner, 46-year-old Victoria Williams, had left the dog in the car for about five hours as she attended to a court matter, according to police.
Williams, a Brawley resident, was booked into the San Diego County Jail on the animal cruelty charge. She has since bailed out, and it's unclear if she's obtained an attorney.
A necropsy will be performed on her pet to determine an exact cause of death, but police believe it died from excessive heat exposure.
