Reporter in dog's car death faces similar charges

A newspaper reporter who initially covered the story about the hot-car death of a police canine is facing a charge of animal cruelty after his own dog was left in a hot car.

Reporter Eugene Turner Scott was arrested last Friday after his 1-year-old pug mix was found in his car in the parking lot of a Chandler mall. Police were called by passers-by who heard the dog barking, said Sgt. Rick Griner.

Griner said it was the hottest part of the day when officers responded to the 911 call.

``The dog was suffering from the effects of the heat. We had an officer transport the dog to one of our emergency veterinarians in Chandler where they had to administer an IV to replenish the fluids in the dog to rehydrate him."

Scott's arrest came almost a year to the day after he wrote about the death of Chandler K-9 ``Bandit," which was left in a car by his partner, Sgt. Tom Lovejoy. And the arrest was the same day that Lovejoy was acquitted of animal cruelty charges.

``There was no food or water in the car," Griner said. ``The windows were cracked. When we interviewed Mr. Scott about this, he advised he wanted to go into the mall to get something to eat, he knew he could not take the dog into the mall, so he made the decision to leave the dog in the car."

Ironically, Griner said, ``This is the same reporter who wrote the initial article for The Arizona Republic, almost a year to the day, on Sgt. Lovejoy's deal with Bandit."

Griner said Scott faces animal cruelty charges because, ``In this particular case, he knowingly, he intentionally and he recklessly left the dog in the vehicle, knowing that harm couild come to the dog. That is the big difference between this case and Sgt. Lovejoy's case."

Lovejoy said he was under a lot of stress and had not had much sleep when he forgot ``Bandit" and left him in the car.