Idiot Doing Donuts on Frozen River Leaves Dog to Die in Submerged Truck

MARCH 3, 2015 UPDATE: Andrew Mayer was charged today with criminal mischief and careless driving, according to NJ.com. Animal cruelty charges are pending for leaving his dog Rolo, a 2-year-old Boxer/Lab mix, in the cab.

Andrew Mayer will very likely win a Darwin Award one day — the dubious honor given to someone who “significantly improves the gene pool by eliminating themselves from the human race in an obviously stupid way.”

Tragically, in the meantime, Mayer’s dog had to die last night due to his owner’s obvious stupidity.

Mayer, 27, of Toms River, N.J., thought it would be a good idea to drive his truck, with his Boxer mix and a friend, Daniel Jolly, in the cab with him, to the middle of the town’s frozen river and do donuts (i.e., drive around in tight circles).

A witness saw the truck spinning around about 100 feet from shore and then suddenly disappear. Authorities were notified.

For more than 10 hours, local police, the New Jersey State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard spent what a police source told NBC New York was “hundreds of thousands of dollars” searching for the missing truck. The truck — with the dead dog inside the cab — was finally found and recovered late this morning.

Mayer and Jolly turned themselves in today.

Jolly claims he told Mayer not to do donuts, and got out of the truck before it fell through the ice. Mayer was able to get out of the truck before it sank, but said he could not get his dog out, so he left him there to die.

“You’re young and stupid, so you don’t think about these things, there were times when there were 300 cars out there,” Jolly’s uncle, John Fackenthal — who said he’d done the same thing — explained to WABC.

“In the ’70s, cars used to go across all the time,” Chad Krean, who watched the recovery of the truck, told APP.com. “You were a big shot if you made it to Seaside.”

It’s bad enough that these people want to risk their lives to become “big shots.” When the urge to be an idiot strikes, they really need to leave their dogs (who are probably smarter than them) at home. And they should stay home with their dogs.

Mayer and Jolly were released, but the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office is considering filing criminal charges against them. The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA) is also investigating the dog’s death, according to the Shore News Network.

Photo via Twitter