WESTFIELD – An eight-month-old Shih Tzu puppy has survived a ghastly accident in which it was dragged behind a pickup truck on White Street.
City police reports that a White Street resident called at 5:13 p.m. Friday to report that his teen-aged son and a friend witnessed a dog being dragged down White Street by a chain attached to a truck,
Officer Matthew Schultze responded to the call and reports the two boys told him that a couple had been walking the dog while apparently engaged in a verbal argument.
The boys told Schultze that the argument apparently ended when the man entered a truck and drove off toward Meadow Street, dragging the dog behind the truck until it hit the woman and the leash broke.
In a brief telephone interview Schultze subsequently explained that the woman had been holding the dog in her arms while speaking with the man at the door of his truck.
He said that when the man closed the door, the dangling end of the retractable lead was caught in it and, when he drove off, the dog was pulled from the woman’s arms.
But, Schultze said the woman didn’t realize that her dog, Fluffy, had been pulled from her arms.
“Thinking the dog had jumped from her arms”, Schultze said, the woman chased after her dog, not realizing it was attached to the departing truck.
Schultze said that when truck turned right on Meadow Street, the direction in which the dog was dragged changed and it crossed the sidewalk where it struck the female party, throwing her off balance and severing the lead.
Schultze had not found the woman and her dog on White Street but calls to local veterinarians led him to Montgomery Road Animal Hospital where he spoke with the woman.
The dog owner told Schultze that she believes that her dog’s injuries were accidental and said that she does not think that the man had known the door had caught the leash when he drove off.
Schultze said that he also spoke with veterinary staff and was told that Fluffy had suffered severe lacerations and road rash. Schultze said that the staff warned him that the dog might have to be euthanized because of its injuries.
However, Ken Frazer, the director of animal control operations in the city, subsequently reported that by Wednesday Fluffy had been treated at the animal hospital and discharged to convalesce at home.
