Cops Free Dog Locked in Hot Car During Heat Wave, Arrest Owner

A 26-year-old Providence woman was arrested by Cranston Police on Monday for allegedly leaving a dog in a hot car while she shopped in the midst of a heat wave.

The dog, a white Maltese, was eventually rescued by officers who smashed the rear window to unlock one of the doors and was given water by an officer to cool it down.

Police said dispatchers were called at around 6:42 p.m. for a report of a dog left in a car for about 40 minutes in the Cranston Parkade shopping area on Garfield Avenue. The engine was off and the windows were down just a half-inch, police were told.

Meanwhile, Cranston was still being baked by the sun as temperatures hovered in the 90s for a third straight day, marking the first heat wave for Rhode Island since 2013.

The dog was described as having labored breathing and when officers arrived, they “made an extensive effort to locate the owner of the car, going to each business in the plaza and making an announcement over the store’s intercom systems for the owner to respond to the car to meet police,” said Cranston Police Chief Col. Michael J. Winquist Jr. in a news release.

Officers then removed the dog from the car and the owner, identified as Laura Mosquea Figuereo, of 13 Barden St., Providence, showed up about 15 minutes later.

She said that she was shopping in one of the stores and never heard the announcement.

Police said she was charged with one count of animal confinement in a motor vehicle, a misdemeanor.

The dog was brought to the Cranston Animal Shelter and will be held there “until the owner satisfies any costs for maintenance, care, medical treatment or confinement for the animal,” police said.