Overheated Dog Rescued

Three East Hampton Town employees worked together Tuesday morning to free a dog trapped in a locked, overheated car.

According to Jimmy Jahoda, an East Hampton Town Justice Court officer, he was alerted to the situation by Ed Michels, the town’s harbormaster. He had entered the courthouse, searching for the owner of a 2015 Nissan with Massachusetts plates. The car, parked outside the courthouse, had a young Australian shepherd inside that was clearly distressed, Mr. Jahoda said. The car did not belong to anyone in the building, and Mr. Michels left, running to another government building in the Town Hall complex.

Mr. Jahoda was assigned that day to a civil trial at which East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana was presiding. She told him to go help the dog, and he returned to the car with another town employee, Nicole Ficeto.

“The dog’s tongue was hanging to the floor,” he said. Mr. Jahoda, a retired East Hampton Town police officer who runs a house-clearing service, Move It Out, when not at the court, took out his baton. While Ms. Ficeto distracted the animal, causing it to look away from Mr. Jahoda, he swung hard, smashing a side window. They removed the dog from the car and took it to the judge’s chambers, to cool it off with water.

About 25 minutes later, he said, the owner of the car, Edward Kernan, 34, of Manhattan, entered the courthouse, upset about his broken window. He was told to register any complaint he had with the police.

This proved to be a problematic move for the owner. After telling his story to the police, he was placed under arrest, booked, and released with an appearance ticket, to be arraigned in East Hampton at a future date.

The dog was turned over to animal control, which took it to a veterinarian