ROANOKE, Va. – Two Roanoke County residents are facing felony charges after police say they left their dogs in a hot car, killing one of the animals.
Police arrested James Lipscomb and Ashleigh Hutton on two counts of felony animal cruelty each. Officers also responded to their home and seized two additional dogs that were in their care.
Shocking video taken by a witness, Victoria Owens, shows the two dogs, locked in a car in 90-degree heat in Downtown Roanoke on Sunday with the windows cracked.
Roanoke police say it happened in a parking lot along Luck Avenue SW just before 1:30 p.m. In the video, you can see one dog on the floor panting heavily and the other on the backseat.
The video was taken minutes before one of the dogs died.
“It broke my heart. It broke my heart,” Holly Moses, a witness said.
Moses says she went to Macado’s to grab food when another bystander came into the restaurant and asked if she knew who owned the car. Moses went outside, saw the dogs, and tried to call the owners, but no one answered. Owens called the police.
Moses says she ran up to her apartment to get water for the dogs.
“I had a cup of water. I tried to, you know, get close to the window and the one dog started growling at me and I knew then something wasn’t right,” Moses said.
Moses stayed until police arrived.
“The cops showed up probably 20 minutes after they were called. And they broke in the window and set the alarm off several times. I guess the owners were cutting off their alarm from inside of Texas Tavern,” Moses said.
Moses says that’s when the owners showed up.
“Probably 15 minutes after talking, they finally opened the doors, and realized one of them had passed away,” Moses said.
The memory brings back tears.
“So many things running through your head and you just want to help the babies and you can’t help the babies,” Moses said. “They shouldn’t have been put in a car in the first place when it’s that hot.”
“I will never get out, just, the visuals of everything happening,” Moses said. “The one dog being drug to the ground, already unconscious. And no resuscitation is going to bring them back from that.”
Police arrested the dogs’ owners James Lipscomb, 37 of Roanoke County, and Ashleigh Hutton, 38 of Roanoke County. They were charged with two counts of felony animal cruelty each. Both were released from jail on bond.
Under Virginia law, bystanders are allowed to break into a vehicle in an emergency if a child is locked inside a hot car, but the law doesn’t provide the same protection to someone trying to save a dog.
Moses has a dog of her own.
“I have a dog, a Pitbull. And that’s my baby. That is my baby,” Moses said. “It’s not okay what happened.”
She hopes lawmakers will reconsider.
“I wish there was something I could do. but like, you can’t do anything. I mean, you feel helpless,” Moses said. “A Good Samaritan law to be passed would be ideal so that it can be prevented.”
10 News reached out to Lipscomb, but we did not hear back. Hutton’s attorney, Cathy Reynolds, tells 10 News she can’t comment on the case at this time.