When two women heard crying sounds coming from inside a van parked at a Rock Hill, South Carolina, restaurant on Friday, they investigated and found two puppies inside, according to police.
The window of the red Nissan Quest in the parking lot of the Olive Garden was cracked open, but the women said the dogs seemed to be suffering.
The women told police they waited about 10 minutes to see if the owner would return, but when no one came, they reached in through the cracked window to unlock the car and rescue the dogs.
A police officer found the driver, Heather Sutton, 21, who said she had been inside the restaurant for 30 minutes and had left the dogs inside a box in the passenger seat.
The women who rescued the dogs told police they found them on their backs under the passenger seat.
Officials said the temperature in the car was over 100 degrees and was not in any shade.
Officers charged Sutton with two counts of ill treatment of animals and took her to the Rock Hill Jail.
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