HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A woman who was seriously injured in a crash in Pembroke Pines said two of the four dogs that were riding in her van took off running after the impact and are still missing.
Wearing a neck brace as she lay in her hospital bed, Gwen McClellan is in considerable pain after Saturday night’s wreck along Sheridan Street, near Northwest 130th Avenue.
“I have blood on my brain. I have blood and water around my heart. I have a herniated disc, which they’re going to remove,” she said. “That’s what’s causing me all the pain in my left arm.”
While McClellan is in physical pain, the pain of losing her dogs is even more overwhelming.
McClellan said she was trying to make a U-turn when she was struck.
“A car came and hit me. I don’t know where the car came from,” she said. “When it hit our van, the van flipped and proceeded down to some kind of low embankment, and I just thank God that it stopped.”
McClellan said she was able to get out of the van. When she opened the vehicle’s door, her two Chihuahuas and two black Labrador mixes ran out.
“The ambulance came and took me, and when a person first came over to me, I kept begging him to get the dogs,” she said.
Officials quickly grabbed the Chihuahuas, but her two Labradors, Angel and Sparkles, had ran into the wooded area.
“I want to find my babies and bring them back home. They’ve never been away from me,” she said as she fought back tears.
Angel was spotted near her water bowl, near the crash site, but the dog was skittish and ran away.
Pembroke Pines Police posted the missing dogs’ pictures on Twitter in the hopes someone will recognize them and is able to reunite them with their owner.
“They’ve never been out on their own, and they’ve never been away from me,” said McClennan. “I’m hoping that they can find them, so I can get them back and bring them all back together.”
Angel has white fur on her belly. Sparkles is all black and has a collar. Police are holding McClennan’s Chihuahuas for her until she is released from the hospital.
Investigators urge anyone with information on the missing dogs’ whereabouts to call Pembroke Pines Police’s Animal Assistance Program at 954-431-2200.
UPDATE: A 7News viewer called overnight to report she believes she found one of the missing dogs. As of Tuesday morning, it is safe with her.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.