Before you break a hot car window with a kid or dog inside, read this
Alia Beard Rau
Gov. Doug Ducey jumped the gun — or in this case the nearest window-smashing tool — on a new state law this week.
The Governor's Office sent out an email blast with an article from a northern Arizona newspaper explaining a new state law "allows" good Samaritans to break a car window to rescue a child or pet from a hot car "without fear of legal liability."
But neither the governor's news release nor the article mentioned that the law doesn't actually take effect for another month — on Aug. 9, to be precise. More than an hour later, Ducey mentioned in one of a series of tweets that the law is not yet in effect (but he didn't say when that will happen).
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And the new law isn't absolution from all legal liability in all situations, just civil liability in very specific instances.
With the temperatures heating up, those might be important pieces of information for a would-be do-gooder to know before they start smashing windows all over town to save Fido.
When the new law goes into effect, any individual who believes a child or animal in a hot car is in "imminent danger" of suffering injury or death can break the vehicle's window to rescue them without fear of being sued by the owner.
BUT FIRST: The person must check to see if the car is actually locked and call law enforcement or animal control. Only then would the person (starting Aug. 9) have the legal protection to smash the window and rescue the child or animal.
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There was discussion during the legislative session about existing state law already providing some legal protections for an individual to do whatever he or she needs to save a child dying in a hot car.
Arizona statute already allows a "necessary defense" to legally justify an action in which a reasonable person would conclude there was no alternative and the benefit outweighed the potential crime.
Does breaking a window outweigh a child dying in a hot car? Most sane people would say 'yes.'
But existing law may not protect from a civil lawsuit, and it's less clear whether it would cover an animal or a less dire circumstance.
So for those who want that added protection in certain cases, Aug. 9 is the magic date — no matter what the Governor's Office tells you.
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