MACON, Ga. — Mike Roland's most cherished memories with Bubba are all that he has left of his three-year-old pit bull.
"We'd be goin' down the interstate, he'd have his head out the window, a bug would pop him in his head and it'd go, 'Pop!'" Roland remembers laughing. "He'd come back in, shake his head, go back out."
Now, all that's left of Bubba are the bits and pieces because of a scorching tragedy.
"It hurts me to even look at pictures I got of him," Roland said. "I was gonna spread his ashes, but I said, 'Nah I'll keep 'em.'"
On June 25, Roland said he found his best four-legged friend dead inside a hot car at a Walmart parking lot.
"When I got him, pulled him out, he was already in rigor mortis and the break thing was stuck up in his rib," Roland said. "I had to lift him off him man it was just sad."
Roland said he asked an old roommate to take care of Bubba for about a week while he's moving.
He said he had plans to move Bubba in last Tuesday morning.
"That's when when I talked to him, he was supposed to be on the way, and he never showed up," Roland said.
Hours later, Roland said he and his ex-wife finally found Bubba at the West Macon Walmart.
"If he told me he was in the Walmart parking lot at the time, we might've saved him, but we got running everywhere," Roland said.
By the time Roland found Bubba, it was too late.
"I don't know who found him," Roland said. "I don't know if one of the workers looked over in there, or they heard Bubba, or they started investigating. I just don't know why, if you heard him, why you didn't open the door? Cool air in there, keep him alive. I don't know why, I just don't understand it."
Roland said he hopes this never happens again and that people stay more alert in public so they can help avoid a tragedy like this.
The Bibb Sheriff's Office said they're investigating Roland's complaint, but they could not provide an incident report.
In a statement, they said: "51-1-29 (b) protects any person who assists to provide emergency care to an incapacitated or endangered individual locked inside of a motor vehicle. This scenario is not covered pertaining to animals in Title 4 (Animals) of the Georgia Code, or the Good Samaritan Law, best known as 51-1-29."
They added: "16-12-4 (b) states a person commits the offense of Cruelty to Animals when he or she causes death or unjustifiable physical pain or suffering to any animal by an act, an omission, or willful neglect. This is a misdemeanor crime unless the person has been previously convicted of the offense before. Then it’s a felony offense."