Man tries to save dog left in hot car

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - Police charged a woman with felony animal cruelty after she left a puppy in a hot car for hours. The dog died of heat stroke.

A local veterinarian had to put the one-year-old Yorkshire Terrier down after a woman left it in a hot car for too long Monday afternoon.

Police arrested Julie Elisma, 24, of Raleigh, N.C., and charged her with felony animal cruelty. They say she was watching the dog for her boyfriend.

Witness Michael Merchant got a text from his girlfriend who had noticed the woman and the dog outside the car at least an hour before. When she saw the car was still there and the dog was inside, she called 911. Then, she texted Merchant.

Rushing to the parking lot, Merchant followed his girlfriend's advice. He searched for a white Honda with a dog in a crate.

"There it was in the back seat, and I was like, 'I'm doing something about this,' because sorry to be vulgar, but it was in its own vomit and everything," Merchant said. "I just knew it wasn't good from there."

Merchant says the Yorkie's eyes were swollen shut. It was foaming at the mouth. He called police and asked if he could break the window. They said no and told him animal control was on the way.

"I said to myself, 'You have two minutes to get here, or I'm breaking it down anyway,'" Merchant said. "They did show up within two minutes. Animal control was there. They shined the thermometer in the back seat, and it was 130 degrees."

At the same time, the owner of the vehicle, Julie Elisma, came out of a nearby building. Police say she had been at an orientation for hours.

"She was just walking, like nothing had happened. She didn't really care," Merchant said. "It was the oddest thing to see, somebody not caring like that."

Merchant asked the dog's name. Elisma told him it wasn't hers. Merchant says she got behind the steering wheel and turned on the air conditioner. He and other bystanders reached for the crate and brought it into a building.

"We were rubbing the dog down with water, grabbing handfuls of water and rubbing the body of the dog," Merchant said.

Animal control took the dog away. Merchant drove to every vet in the area and finally got the news at the SPCA. The little dog didn't make it.

"I just wanted to go home and sit down for a while because, you know, there's really nothing you can do," Merchant said. "They say it died of heat stroke and internal bleeding."

Merchant says he did all he could while Elisma did not.

"I hope she gets the full extent of the law," Merchant said.

Elisma turned herself in Tuesday. WAVY.com requested an interview with her Wednesday night, but has not heard back from the jail yet.