DALLAS — Two men who called 911 to report two dogs locked in a car say the Yorkies were in the trunk.
News 8's story broadcast Tuesday night at 10 o'clock has generated a lot of questions about the actions of police and firefighters during the rescue. Witnesses said Dallas firefighters did the right thing.
Joey and Eric, who asked us not to use their last names, attended the Dallas Stars game Saturday at the American Airlines Center. As they got out of their car, they heard a strange sound.
"My brother-in-law asked me, 'Did you hear that?'" Joey said. "I said, 'Yes, I hear it.' He said, 'There's a dog in the car.'"
John and Danika Shipman told News 8 they left their dogs in the car as they went to lunch celebrating John's birthday on a cool, cloudy day. According to National Weather Service records, Saturday's high temperature in Dallas was 61 degrees.
The Shipmans said their dogs — Copper and Penny — were in the trunk. They told us they tilted one of the back seats forward, so there was an opening between the trunk and the car's cabin.
"I put them back there because I didn’t want them in the cabin, because they will unlock the door," John Shipman said. "Those pups cost about $1,000 each. I don't want somebody to just reach in there and steal them."
Eric and Joey, self-proclaimed animal lovers, said they called 911 because of all the uncertainty surrounding the dogs.
"If they had just been in the car, maybe with the windows down or something, I think they would have been okay," Eric said. "But I felt the trunk was just very inhumane."
The Shipmans maintain that firefighters and police went too far in prying open the trunk of their new Hyundai Sonata with a crowbar. They want the city to pay for the estimated $5,000 in damage.
But the witnesses say the dog-rescuers acted properly.
"Who's to say how long the dogs had been there?" Joey said. "I think their main concern was getting the dogs out."
E-mail sstoler@wfaa.com
