A 31-year-old Fort Collins man was sentenced to 60 days in jail for animal cruelty after leaving his dog in his car with the windows rolled up in July for more than four hours while playing golf in Littleton, causing the dog to die of heat exhaustion.
Michael Reynolds was sentenced to 60 days in jail, two years of probation, 100 hours of “useful public service,” monitored sobriety, a dog ownership class, court fines and fees and no dog ownership for two years in Jefferson County court on Tuesday.
Reynolds’s attorney filed an emergency motion to appeal the sentence, according to the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Reynolds was accused of leaving his dog, a German shepherd mix named Keef, in his car for over four hours in 80-degree temperatures while he played an 18-hole round of golf at the Foothills Golf Course.
The inside of a car reaches 123 degrees after an hour when it’s 80 degrees outside, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Witnesses reported hearing a loud whimpering from Keef inside a car with its windows rolled up, attempted to locate the dog’s owner and went inside to call 911, according to the district attorney’s office.
Other witnesses noticed the dog was in “obvious distress” and was fogging up the car, and a witness ultimately used a golf club to shatter the rear driver’s side window while someone crawled into the vehicle and unlocked the door to rescue Keef.
The dog was unresponsive, and a witness tried to perform CPR but could not revive him.
Reynolds returned to his car at 1 p.m. and was “extremely distraught,” stating that the dog had been left in the car since 8:45 a.m. and he thought he left the windows cracked.
A necropsy later confirmed Keef died of heat exhaustion.
Reynolds pleaded guilty to one count of animal cruelty.
Judge Jennifer Melton emphasized Reynolds’s actions were not just negligent but highly reckless and that cracked windows would not have saved the dog’s life, according to the district attorney’s office.
No charges were filed against the witness who broke out the car window to try to rescue Keef because of a 2017 state law that shields people who break into vehicles to rescue a pet or at-risk person from penalties, according to the district attorney’s office.
This was the first case Jefferson County law enforcement could recall where the law applied, according to previous reporting.
To receive immunity, the law requires that it is not a law enforcement vehicle and is locked and that the person tries to locate the owner, calls police first, uses only the force that’s reasonably necessary to enter and stays at the scene with the animal or person until police or paramedics arrive.
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