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Bipartisan bill would let you break someone's window to save a pooch

September 18, 2018
Kinesiology senior Maria Silletti gives her dog Bentley, 1, a drink of water during Sparticipation on August 28, 2018 at Cherry Lane Field. Silletti is the ambassador for MSU CHAARG, a group for women interested in fitness and health on campus. Thousands of students attended the annual event which gives student organizations the chance to recruit new members.
Kinesiology senior Maria Silletti gives her dog Bentley, 1, a drink of water during Sparticipation on August 28, 2018 at Cherry Lane Field. Silletti is the ambassador for MSU CHAARG, a group for women interested in fitness and health on campus. Thousands of students attended the annual event which gives student organizations the chance to recruit new members. —
Photo by Sylvia Jarrus | The State News

Not many issues can bridge the divide between Republicans and Democrats in the Michigan Legislature. One that may be able to, however, is a shared love of man’s best friend. 

That’s what state Rep. Beau LaFave (R-Iron Mountain) and state Sen. Curtis Hertel (D-East Lansing) are counting on to get legislation currently being considered in both the state House of Representatives and Senate onto the governor’s desk. Their bills HB 6298 and SB 496 would make breaking a car window legal if it is necessary to save a dog’s life.

“We know that hundreds of animals die every year from being left in motor vehicles, and I think that there is a lack of education about this issue,” Hertel said. “It is cruel. In Michigan, we don’t have very many hot days, but even on fairly moderate days the temperature inside a car builds relatively quickly.”

Before breaking a car window, a person would first have to check to make sure that the doors are locked. They would also be required to contact local law enforcement immediately before or after breaking the window, stay in a safe spot near the vehicle until first responders arrive and leave a note on the windshield of the car noting, among other things, the current location of the animal that was rescued.

A legal measure known as a "reasonable person standard" would be used by courts to determine whether breaking into the vehicle was truly necessary.

“A reasonable person would mean the average, run-of-the-mill citizen would say, ‘I’ve been here for less than ten seconds, maybe the dog’s ok, he’s in the window, he’s smiling, he’s running around' — okay, you can’t break the window yet,” LaFave said. “But if the dog’s lying on the floor not breathing, or breathing very shallowly, and they’ve waited there for a couple minutes, no one’s around, they’ve called the cops and the cops aren’t going to be there in time – now it’s reasonable to break that window.”

Two Republicans and three Democrats are co-sponsoring Hertel’s bill in the Senate, and LaFave hopes to see similar support in the House. 

 “I’m as partisan as the next guy, but the love of animals on the other side of the aisle is just as fervent as it is on ours, and we’ve got good people that want to get good things done,” LaFave said. “Republicans have a particular way they think is going to make the economy better, Democrats have a different philosophy of how to do that, but I don’t think that partisanship has anything to do with taking care of our furry friends.” 

LaFave also recently introduced a number of other bills related to animals, including one that would make it illegal for cities to ban specific breeds of dogs. A 2016 Detroit Free Press report found that 14 towns in Michigan had banned one or more specific dog breeds. 

“There was a court case that I read that there was a guy with a service animal, I think it was one of our military personnel, and he came back and needed a service animal,” LaFave said. “He had a pit bull that was his service animal, and the city said ‘you can’t have a pit bull in our city.’” 

While the best interests of Michigan’s pooches are a priority for LaFave, he says that he would not consider himself an animal rights activist. 

“I would just like to think that I’m a moral human being who has a soft spot for a pet. I’m a hunter,” LaFave said. “I would say personally, yeah, I support the rights of animals, but I wouldn’t subscribe to the title that some of our friends on the far left use … and I’m certainly not a vegan, either.”

Ultimately, LaFave says, the need for legislation like this becomes crystal clear when you consider what would happen if you left your pup in a hot car, intentionally or otherwise. 

“I got a border collie from a shelter a couple years ago, and I would be terrified to think that somebody would be unwilling to break my window because they’re worried they might go to jail,” LaFave said.

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