Is Doing The RIGHT Thing WRONG In North Dakota?

Well, I think it's pretty safe to say warm weather is still hanging around here in Bismarck, North Dakota. We still will have some hot days before the winter kicks in. Just the other day here at our radio station, we were talking about people actually leaving a young child or an animal in the backseat, while they went into the store to get something real quick. Some claimed they "just plain forgot" - I found that extremely unbelievable. How can your mind draw a blank like that?

How does one forget about a small animal or EVEN a child in your car? You obviously took the time to make sure the door was locked.

So some might say they forgot, honest mistake right? WRONG - that could turn out deadly in minutes. Thank goodness people will go to great lengths to smash a window to rescue the pet or - gulp - a baby! It only takes minutes for bad things to happen. Weather.gov tells us  "The temperature inside a vehicle can rise 20 degrees in as little as 10 minutes, and 50 degrees in an hour.  This can cause hyperthermia (heatstroke) in literally a matter of minutes"

So the big question - are those people that do break the window, are they breaking the law?

Now, are the window breakers guilty of breaking a law? I WOULD have easily guessed that a citizen would be protected from any wrongdoing of DOING the right thing. Here is what aldf.org says "Fourteen states have “Good Samaritan” laws which grant civil immunity for civilians rescuing an animal from an unattended vehicle under certain circumstances."  North Dakota is at the lowest tier when it comes to your rights according to the '2020 U.S. State Animal Protection Laws Rankings' provided by the Animal Legal Defense Fund

Personally, if I saw a child or animal clearly suffering, no signs of the owner anywhere, I wouldn't hesitate a split-second to break that window any way I could. What do you think?