Bad boys, Bad boys, whatcha gonna do?

I saw something kind of exciting the other day. Well at least it was exciting for me in my work-a-day world life. I was at one of our local malls, the kind that are currently called lifestyle centers where the stores are outside and not enclosed. Things have truly become full circle. I am old enough to remember strip malls where the stores were outside and then enclosed malls became popular and these strip malls were converted and enclosed. I clearly remember thinking how cool enclosed malls were because you could now shop inside in case of inclement weather. Not that we get a lot of inclement weather in Southern Calif, but I still remember thinking they were so cool. Now it's back to being outside and called lifestyle centers. Yet I digress.....

I came out of one of my favorite stores to see a crowd gathered around a parked car. There were also two police officers with their cruiser parked askew on the street. Then I also saw the cameraman and another guy holding a microphone on a long pole. I'm sure there is a technical term for the microphone guy, but I don't know what it is!! I'm sure they were filming an episode of "COPS". The two officers were tapping on the windows of the parked car and my first thought was that someone had left their child in their car. The temperature was probably 95 degrees and all the windows were rolled up. My heart groaned at the thought that this situation might turn out to be fatal.

Well, there was something left in the car and it was the car owner's dog. The officers waited around for quite a few moments then decided to take action. One officer laid a large tarp across the windows on one side of the car while the other officer tried to get the dog's attention on the other side of the car. The cop with the tarp took his billy club and attempted to break the window behind the driver's seat. The club bounced off the window and once he dropped it on the street. It took the officer five tries before the window finally crumbled. A cheer rang out through the crowd as the officers guided the dog out of the car. A young mother with two kids in a stroller had some bottled water which they poured over the dog and gave him a drink.

A few minutes after freeing the dog, the owner arrived. He was a young man of about 24 or 25 and guessing by his hand gestures was trying to tell the cops that he was just over at another store and was going to be right back. The cameraman zoomed in on him, as the officers guided him to the curb and had him sit down. The cops didn't care too much about the story they were being given. I wondered what kind of ticket he was going to get. Was this a misdemeanor or is cruelty to animals a felony?

The crowd finally dissapated, the young man had his dog returned to him and drove away with a smashed window. The last person remaining was a security guard sweeping up the broken glass in the street.

All in all, I was just glad that no one was harmed in the filming of this episode, man or dog!