Girl left to ride in dog cage
A man who let his step-daughter ride in a cage on the back of his truck says he did it because he didn't want to be cruel to his dog.
Thomas Fishinger, 30, and his wife, Abbey Carlson, 29, put their 10-year-old daughter in the cage to keep the dog company as they drove down a Pennsylvania highway.
A passing motorist took a photo of the incident and posted it online, prompting an investigation.
Local media caught up with the girl's mother who said she didn't think she’d done anything wrong.
"She wanted to be with her dog. She plays with him in here all the time. They were strapped in," Abbey Carlson said.
"I didn't think it was that big of a deal. We weren’t going fast. We weren’t," Carlson told CBS.
The girl's stepfather said she wanted to be in there to play with the distressed dog.
“[I] don’t want to dog to suffer. That's like animal cruelty to me, you know, the dog crying like that."
The couple were arrested when they arrived at their home, and have been charged with endangering the welfare of the child.
The girl's father says even though he's confident his daughter was always safe, he now regrets his actions.
"Oh, my God yes. I would never hurt my daughter", Fishinger said. “She will never get in the back of a truck again.”
The couple was released after their arrest. The girl is in the care of her grandmother.
