A group of good Samaritans helped save the life of a pit bull after someone apparently threw the animal off the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Williamsburg on Tuesday.
The “sweet-natured” dog came sailing off the of the highway overpass onto Meeker Avenue near the corner of Manhattan Avenue at 6:20 pm on Tuesday, witnesses said. The pooch was alive, but just barely, according to people on the scene.
“It is just tragic,” said Jon Ernsberger, who was driving on Meeker Avenue when he saw the canine come crashing down. “Thank god he survived.”
A group of people stayed with the dog, which suffered a variety of injuries, including a collapsed lung, sprained front leg injury, and broken teeth, according to the vet hospital treating him.
Police arrived at the scene, but did not immediately take a report, witnesses said. They did offer to shuttle the injured animal to a shelter, but the people who had gathered to help the dog refused to let them, worrying that the pooch would be put down, they said.
“They did not seem like the most compassionate animal people,” said Lacie Zassman. “We asked if we could take the dog instead.”
The group piled into Ernsberger’s car and hightailed it to Veterinary Emergency and Referral Group, a 24-hour animal hospital in Cobble Hill, where a rep says he is going to make it.
“His intestines might have come up into his chest cavity,” said Maria Moss-Davidson, hospital spokeswoman. “He might require surgery, but he is a young, resilient dog.”
More than 30 people have already called the hospital asking to adopt the pup, who hospital staffers have dubbed “Meeker,” Moss-Davidson said. The fido has some get-up-and-go, but needs to rest for now, she said.
“He knows how to sit and lay down and you can tell he wants to give you a paw, but he is sore,” she said.
On Wednesday police said they are investigating the incident, but they have not yet filed a report because it is impossible to tell if a crime was actually committed, a police spokesman said.
“The dog might have been hit by a vehicle,” he said. “In the past, stray dogs have gotten on the highway and have nowhere to go.”
Those who pitched in say that, no matter what happened, they are shocked that someone could leave a dog in that condition.
“Whoever it was, they obviously did not want him,” said Moss-Davidson. “It is so terrible.”
