Dog dies after left in hot car in Daytona Beach

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Gloria Daniels, 65, made her first appearance before a judge this afternoon accused of leaving her dog in her sweltering hot car.

According to the report, the Illinois woman had just moved to Florida and was living in her car with her dog, but she started having chest pains Sunday afternoon. She went to Halifax Health in Daytona Beach. She parked her car and left her 7-year-old pug, named Apollo, inside the car.

Police say a security guard at the hospital  saw the dog in the car. He didn't get the dog out but says he kept going out to the parking lot to check on him.

“The dog was not in distress so the individual who saw the dog the first time went and checked on the dog a half hour later and the dog was not in distress he seemed to have food and water inside the car but again it was very, very warm,” said Lyda Longa with the Daytona Beach Police Department.

On his third trip out there, the security guard called the police, but by the time they showed up the dog was dead. 

“Inside the car was 115 degrees and the dog and the windows were just open a crack so it was extremely hot in that car,” Longa said.

Investigators say the dog had been alone in the car for nearly three hours.

“It could be 90 degrees outside but in a car, it will go up to 115, 120 degrees in seconds, so that' something people need to be aware of with both animals and children," Longa said.

Last year, Florida passed a law making it legal to break into cars to rescue vulnerable people and pets. We asked Halifax Health why efforts weren't made to save the dog earlier, but we did not hear back.