South Carolina resident Tyler Smith was charged with a misdemeanor after a picture of him dangling a dog out of an apartment window went viral.

Dog Dangled Out Apartment Window

Smith, 23, was watching his parents’ dog when it had to go to the bathroom. Since it was raining, he opted to hang the pup out of the window by a leash to relieve itself, instead of taking it outside. A passerby captured the incident in a picture (above) and uploaded it to the Greenville County Animal Care Services Facebook page, sparking a firestorm of outrage.

Concerned parties, who saw the image on the web, contacted the police to look into the matter. On Sunday, animal control officers paid Smith a visit, and charged him with violating a city ordinance on Monday.

"Saturday it was raining really hard during that time period and we believe he was doing it to let it use the bathroom," Officer Jonathan Bragg told ABC News.

If convicted, Smith could face $1,000 fine and 30 days behind bars. His parents’ dog was not injured.

– Chelsea Regan

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