Army Vet Saves Dog, Gets Arrested

Army veteran Mike Hammons was arrested when he broke into a car to save a dog.

The tiny Pomeranian dog was left inside the hot car parked outside a shopping center in Athens, with no access to water and was said to be in distress.

Hammons then used the foot rest from his wife's wheelchair to break the car window and rescue the dog.

When the owner of the car returned to her vehicle she was angry at Hammons. "She said you broke my window, and I said I did. She says why would you do that? I said to save your dog." said Hammons

Oconee Chief Deputy Lee Weems had no choice but to book Hammons when the car owner insisted on pressing charges.

Speaking on the incident, Chief Weems said, "We didn't want to charge him, but he told us he broke the windows and when you have a victim there saying she wants him charged, we had no other choice."

Hammons had been a part of Operation Desert Storm and has had his battles with PTSD after returning home. His wife Saundra Hammons says that her husband is always one of the first to respond when someone is in danger.

"He has seen so much, and been through so much, his thing is he's got to save him. Michael says I have to save lives because I couldn't save everyone else over there," said Saundra Hammons.

Hammons said "I knew there'd be consequences, but it didn't matter. Glass, they make new glass every day, but they could never replace that dog."