A North Carolina veterinary technician has been charged and fired from her job after she rescued a dog that was abandoned in the cold winter weather — but failed to hand the pooch over to animal control.

Dason Garner has been left “completely broken” as she faces charges for keeping a stray animal, failure to surrender and interfering with law enforcement over her deed, according to WRAL.

Garner says she was punished for her act of compassion in rescuing the pooch from the brutal conditions after a harsh snowstorm barreled across Wilson, NC, over the weekend.

The now-former vet tech saw doorbell footage of a person, later identified as Ashley Baker, walking up to a neighbor’s front porch, dropping off the shaggy canine and scurrying away, according to video obtained by the outlet.

“I was only trying to help a dog who was suffering, cold, and in need. I acted out of compassion, instinct, and love for an animal that could not help itself,” Garner wrote on Facebook Tuesday.

“To now be wrongfully charged for doing what I believed was the right thing has caused deep emotional pain that I carry now,” she said. “Being punished for trying to protect a vulnerable dog has left me feeling devastated, confused, and betrayed by a system that was supposed to value life and kindness.”

The storm, a bomb cyclone or “bombogenesis,” wreaked havoc across the Tar Heel State, bringing more cold weather and snow to the region, with Wilson recording upward of 11 inches, according to CBS17.

Garner took in the “sweet” dog and called animal control to report the deserted pet, only to be told to bring the animal down for an investigation, WRAL reported.

She refused the order, claiming that with her expertise, she knew her home would be a safer place for the abandoned animal.

“In her condition, (and) as a vet tech and as a groomer, I don’t foresee her coming like that,” Garner said. “She wouldn’t stand a chance in a shelter.

“It’s very heartbreaking,” she said. “I don’t understand how you can do that [to] something so lovable. She was so sweet.”

Garner eventually made contact with the rightful owner of the dog — who had been missing for over two months — reuniting the human with their pup.

Baker has since been charged with abandonment of an animal.

Garner claims the aftermath of rescuing the dog has taken a mental toll, causing her to have constant anxiety, emotional exhaustion and a heavy sense of helplessness.

“My reputation has been damaged, my character questioned, and my compassion, something I have always been proud of, used against me. It hurts deeply to be labeled a criminal for choosing empathy over indifference,” she wrote, adding that her actions weren’t out of malice or selfish intent but because she couldn’t leave the dog to suffer.

“Knowing that this act of mercy has been twisted into wrongdoing has shattered my sense of fairness and justice,” she said.

On Wednesday, Garner said, she was fired from her position at an animal clinic in nearby Rocky Mount, NC, because she saved the dog.

Garner, a mother of a 2-year-old son, says she faces court and lawyer fees after just getting back to work, with police saying she was told multiple times to forfeit the dog to animal control, the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office told WRAL.

Garner doesn’t regret saving the dog, saying it would have died if not rescued.

“What hurts the most is that I would make the same choice again if it meant saving a life, yet I am now left carrying the emotional scars of being punished for doing what my conscience demanded,” she wrote.

North Carolina schools saw a decrease in crimes for the third year in a row last school year, according to the latest numbers released Wednesday from the state Department of Public Instruction.

The number of crimes reported at North Carolina schools fell by around 6.1% to 11,470. The rate fell by about 8% to 7.43 incidents per 1,000 students.

Incidents falling under one of nine “violent” categories increased from 250 to 302. But these remain rare, occurring at a rate of 0.2 incidents per 1,000 students. They account for just 2.6% of all incidents.

DPI Chief Accountability Officer Michael Maher said the data shows crime is not widespread across the system, but is concentrated among a smaller number of schools and students.

Around 78% of schools reported 0-5 incidents this year. And data shows 9,966 students out of the state’s roughly 1.5 million accounted for all of the incidents — that means more than 99% of students were not involved in any violent or reportable offense.

“It’s not a picture of system-wide disorder, it’s a picture of concentration,” Maher told the state Board of Education Wednesday. “It’s concentrated in specific grades, it’s concentrated in key transition years and in students who are already facing multiple overlapping challenges.”

Incidents involving possession of a weapon fell by around 20%, and incidents involving possession of a firearm fell by 34%.

But possession of drugs remains a thorny issue, ticking up slightly and accounting for around 60% of all incidents.

“So while every incident matters, the data show that severe violence is rare, and the most common challenges schools are managing are behavioral and substance-related — not widespread physical harm,” Maher said. “So any policy, procedure or programmatic recommendation we make should be proportional to that evidence.”

The student subgroups with the highest incident rates were students with disabilities, Black students, economically disadvantaged students and male students. But Maher said this paints a complicated picture.

“I want to be clear: These are descriptive patterns, they are not causal explanations. The same pattern shows up across multiple education outcomes, including attendance, course and test performance and dropout — not just discipline,” Maher said. “That tells us that discipline is not a standalone issue. Effective solutions need to connect attendance, behavior, academic support and student services.”

Still, while these groups show persistent disparities, they’ve also seen significant improvements, with significant declines this year.

Maher made several recommendations based on the data – including establishing a targeted middle-to-high school transition initiative,

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools saw a decline in the number of crimes — from 1,414 to 1,267 — and its crime rate — from 10.1 to 8.8 per 1,000 students.