Per your Newsday find, it does clear up some questions. It looks like this jerk wasn't sent to the scene, but took the matter into his own hands and got a little too power hungry.
Thanks for finding that.
I have had do gooders call the cops on me twice because I left my dogs in my car with the air conditioner on. Even then I still check on them. Some people just over react.
PS: I make sure they can't drive the car off or lock themselves inside.
The Newsday article said the time she went to the store was 6:00 p.m. Sunset in Trenton that day was 7:48 p.m. So unless she parked in the shade, which was possible, she would have been in the wrong to leave her dog in the car in the sun. And if she mouthed off to the officer and he was such a red-neck SOB, I can see how the incident escalated. But the cop overreacted and there definitely will be a lawsuit.