Man took video, called police after seeing dog on open trailer on Indiana expressway
HAMMOND, Ind. (CBS) -- A suspect was in custody Thursday night after a viral video showed a dog in a cage on a trailer on the Borman Expressway in Northwest Indiana.
The arrest was made after a man took a video that ended up going viral, and also called police.
The suspect, Erik McClinton, 37, of Lake County, Indiana, was in custody late Thursday, according to Indiana State Police. The dog is now in proper care, after state troopers said the animal was endangered and in distress.
Ryan Jackson was the one who took the video along the Borman Expressway showing a large dog sitting in a cage in an open trailer.
Jackson tints windows for a living in Hammond, Indiana, but it was the tinted windows on the sport-utility vehicle hauling the trailer that prevented him from getting a good look at the driver.
"Because the windows were so dark both the front and the back, you could kind of just see a silhouette," Jackson said.
Jackson was headed east on I-80/94 headed toward Hobart, Indiana, when he saw the large dog in the cage on the trailer on a freezing winter day.
"The dog was very unsettled," Jackson said. "When it was going by the semi-truck tires, it was very skittish, and you know, its hair was standing up."
The SUV was traveling at speeds of 70 to 80 mph. Jackson said it was about 28 degrees outside.
He called police and tried to get the dog some help.
"It made heart hurt, really. You know what I mean?" Jackson said. "I couldn't imagine how cold the animal was back there."
Indiana State Police ran the license plates, and later found the dog and the SUV abandoned outside a home in Gary, Indiana. K9 officers were able to help rescue the dog, and the driver was identified.
State police said none of it would have been possible without Jackson's video.
"I didn't start to get anyone in trouble," Jackson said. "I was more mad than anything, and I was more concerned about the animals."
The dog is believed to be a Cane Corso or a mastiff, and is named Midnight.
There has been an outpouring of support for people who want to adopt Midnight, but Indiana State Police say he will stay with a foster family until the case comes to a conclusion.
