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Police officer adopts German Shepherd he rescued on the job

Abby, the German Shepherd, was left in a hot car with another dog who tragically died. She helped save herself and a cat by honking the car's horn.

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department safety officer is giving a pup a second chance at life after she was left to suffer inside of a hot vehicle last week.

PSO Poe was working shortly before 6 p.m. on June 20, when he responded to a report of a dog left in a vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel in the 5800 block of West 85th Street, near Zionsville Road. When he arrived on the scene, he found two dogs and a cat inside of the car in 90-degree heat with no air conditioning and "windows barely cracked."

Unfortunately, one of the dogs died inside of the car, and the German Shepherd, Abby, and the other cat were rescued.

Court documents say the hotel manager told police he became aware of the dogs in the car when Abby started honking the horn. The hotel manager said he did not see anybody inside the car and that the car was turned off, so he said he called the non-emergency line for animal control.

Credit: IMPD Northwest District

After the incident, Poe reached out to Indianapolis Animal Care Services to find out how he could adopt Abby. Just a few days later, Abby has found her forever home with Poe and IMPD says she is in great hands.

"I switched her collar, and it was like Abby knew she was home for good," Poe said.

IMPD officers arrested a 53-year-old man and 74-year-old woman after the incident.

Now, IMPD is reminding everyone of the Indy ordinance that says you need to bring your pets inside when it's over 90 degrees outside or when there's a heat advisory in effect.

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