ROCK HILL, S.C. — When two women heard crying sounds coming from inside a van parked at a Rock Hill restaurant on Friday, they investigated and found two puppies inside, according to police.
The window of the red Nissan Quest in the parking lot of the Olive Garden on John Ross Parkway was cracked open, but the women said the dogs seemed to be suffering.
The women told police they waited about 10 minutes to see if the owner would return, but when no one came, they reached in through the cracked window to unlock the car and rescue the dogs.
A Rock Hill police officer found the driver, Heather Sutton, 21, who said she had been inside the restaurant for 30 minutes and had left the dogs inside a box in the passenger seat.
The women who rescued the dogs told police they found them on their backs under the passenger seat.
Officials said the temperature in the car was over 100 degrees and was not in any shade.
Linda Boan rescues animals and said when she saw the puppies, she rushed over to check them out.
“The gums, if they're kind of white, or a really pale pink, that means they're low on oxygen and their internal organs are in distress,” Boan said.
Officers charged Sutton with two counts of ill treatment of animals and took her to the Rock Hill Jail.
The puppies will be held by Animal Control until Sutton's court date.
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