SUNRISE, FLA. (WSVN) - A heartbroken South Florida dog owner is speaking out after her 9-month-old puppy was struck by a driver who, they said, was speeding and kept on going.
Doorbell camera video from Eileen Carl’s home, located along Springtree Lakes Drive in Sunrise, captured the moments Griffin slipped out of the family’s front door, just before 5 p.m., Friday.
Audio from the footage recorded the family’s screams as they called the dog back, but the canine ran through the yard and into the street.
Within a few seconds, Griffin was hit by a car.
“We were just about to adopt him. It will take us a long, long time to just get over this,” said Carl.
Griffin’s injuries were so severe that, Carl said, they had no other option but to put him down.
“This was just an unexpected, tragic thing that happened,” she said. “I’m just glad that it wasn’t a human being.”
Carl said it was clear the driver who struck Griffin was speeding.
“At least 60 miles per hour, hit him so hard that we heard the impact and just kept going,” she said, “and the dog wound up all the way, a few hundred yards, down in the middle of the street over there.”
The homeowner said the tragic accident could have had a different outcome if the driver had not been speeding, a common sight along Springtree Lakes Drive.
“People are going through here like it’s a highway,” she said.
The family’s grief is made even worse by what Carl described as a lack of compassion that they saw that day.
“Just stop and show that you’re sorry, and there would have been some humanity,” she said.
Sunrise Police are now investigating what they consider to be a felony hit-and-run.
Carl said she and her family are planning to fight to make some changes to the busy road in an effort to prevent more tragedies like the loss of their pet.
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