Jarrod Martin was repeatedly told to back away from a roaring fire in his apartment building, but the sight of his dog jumping up and down against a glass door in a room filled with smoke was too much, he said.
The other side of the building was engulfed in flames and the fire was moving toward Bishop, his year-old pit bull.
''He was pressed up against the glass as it was,'' Martin said last night. ''The fire was coming right toward him.''
He said he had waited 30 minutes for firefighters to rescue his dog and decided he must either get the pet himself or Bishop would never make it out of the apartment alive.
Martin put firefighters in danger by entering the building, diverting their attention from the blaze, and he could have caused a ''backdraft,'' a flash fire caused by a sudden rush of oxygen, said Assistant Chief Kim Lawson, spokeswoman for the Nashville Fire Department. Martin, noting that the other half of the building was on fire, disagreed.
Asked whether fire department policy dictates when to go in to rescue a person as opposed to an animal, Lawson said, ''We don't really have a point. We will always do a primary search for any life at all. Obviously, you've got to have some of the flames knocked down.'' Lawson added: ''We always go in and make a primary search on any area for any life at all. It's common to see pets taken out and given oxygen by our firefighters. We do the best we can.''
The charge of disorderly conduct carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 days in jail and a $50 fine. Reckless endangerment is punishable by up to 11 months, 29 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,500, according to state law.
I would go back in to save my dog. It sounds shaky that he was endangering anyone but himself and he should hardly be arrested for that. It seems like a situation in which the police got angry that they were ignored. The disconnection that police have in official matters probably helps them to do their jobs better. A certain detachment would certainly help keep an officer from being depressed about the horrors that they might see on the job. But in this case, the police forgot the normal human reaction. I’m sure one of the cops that arrested him would have done the same thing in similar circumstances.
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