Florida
Fla. Deputies Smash Window to Save Dog from 120-Degree Car Left Outside for Over 30 Minutes
Deputies rescued a small dog left in a vehicle on a hot day in Florida.
The Pinellas Sheriff’s Office recently shared a video of the Aug. 2 rescue on Instagram, along with a message cautioning people not to leave their pets or children in a parked and locked car.
The body cam video shows authorities breaking the window of an SUV after they were notified by a concerned citizen of a small pup being inside. The vehicle with the dog was left parked with its air conditioning off in the outdoor parking lot of a courthouse.
Authorities said the vehicle was also locked, and the windows were rolled up when the rescue occurred. Deputies found the dog inside the car “heavily panting and in obvious distress,” they added.
The sheriff’s office noted that the dog was left in the car for “about 30-45 minutes” on an 88-degree summer day, meaning it was about 120 degrees inside the vehicle when deputies rescued the dog.
The Florida sheriff’s office included a stern warning to others in its Instagram post: “So if it isn’t good enough for you, it’s not good enough for a pet or child. Cracking a window doesn’t help much at all, so don’t consider that to be an option. Just don’t do it.”
The agency’s post added that the dog is currently in good health, noting that “there are way too many situations where that isn’t the case.”
In the video, the deputies carefully pull the pup from the vehicle’s backseat after breaking the SUV’s back window. The authorities then place the dog in a deputy’s car and give the pet water.
CBS reports that the owners of the dog were arrested for animal cruelty, and the canine was taken to local animal control.
According to The Humane Society of the United States, leaving a dog in a hot car can lead to “irreparable organ damage and even death” for the pet.
The nonprofit organization advises bystanders who spot a pet stuck in a hot car to call the local police or animal control and wait by the vehicle for them to arrive if the owners can not be located. They also note that leaving a dog in a car is dangerous even when it’s not extremely hot outside, stating that the temperature inside of a car can heat up to 116 degrees within an hour on a nice 72-degree day.
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Earlier this summer, Houston’s Northwest Volunteer Fire Department rescued a dog in Texas after the pooch was left in a hot vehicle. The fire station detailed the rescue in a Facebook post with several photos of the dog.
“Heroes in Action!” the post read. “Our incredible firefighters rescued a furry friend from a dangerously hot, abandoned car. With temperatures soaring, every second counted.”
On the day of the rescue, temperatures reached a high of 92 degrees in Houston, per Weather.com.
Florida
Man convicted of 1991 fatal shooting of police officer is set to be executed in Florida
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop is set to be executed Tuesday evening in Florida.
Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Kearse was initially sentenced to death in 1991 after being convicted of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.
The Florida Supreme Court found that the trial court failed to give jurors certain information about aggravating circumstances and ordered a new sentencing. Kearse was resentenced to death in 1997.
This is Florida’s third execution scheduled for 2026, following a record 19 executions last year. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The highest number before then was eight executions in both 1984 and 2014, under former governors Bob Graham and Rick Scott, respectively.
According to court records, Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish pulled over Kearse for driving the wrong way on a one-way street in January 1991. When Kearse couldn’t produce a valid driver’s license, Parrish ordered Kearse out of his vehicle and attempted to handcuff him.
A struggle ensued, and Kearse grabbed Parrish’s firearm, prosecutors said. Kearse fired 14 times, striking the officer nine times in the body and four times in his body armor. A nearby taxi driver heard the shots and used Parrish’s radio to call for help.
Parrish was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died from the gunshot wounds, officials said. Meanwhile, police used license plate information that Parrish had called in before approaching Kearse to identify the attacker’s vehicle and home address, where Kearse was arrested.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied appeals filed by Kearse. His attorneys had argued that he was unconstitutionally deprived of a fair penalty phase and that his intellectual disability makes his execution unconstitutional.
Final appeals were pending Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court.
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis, far outpacing Alabama, South Carolina and Texas which each held five executions.
Besides the two Florida executions this year, Texas and Oklahoma have each executed one person so far.
Two more Florida executions have already been scheduled for this month. Michael Lee King, 54, is scheduled to die on March 17, and the execution of James Aren Duckett, 68, is set for March 31.
All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
Florida
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Gray Reid has spent most of his career in basketball and sports media. He began as a student manager for the Nevada men’s basketball team, then went on to coach overseas in China and later joined the LC State men’s basketball program as a graduate assistant. After coaching, Gray joined SBLive Sports as a videographer and video editor, eventually moving into his current role as Regional Marketing Director.
Florida
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