A Port Charlotte woman said her emotional support dog was run over by a garbage truck and killed, and she wants the company to hold the driver accountable.
"Sometimes when I close my eyes, I still see it happening," Jennifer Allen said.
Marks left behind from where her emotional support dog Scooby was run over are a constant reminder for Allen.
Allen said she has fibromyalgia, and her dog Scooby helped with the anxiety and depression that comes with the ailment.
"It's not just a dog. That was my person," she said.
On the afternoon of July 19th, Allen said she filled up a pool for Scooby in her front yard to cool off. When she went to shut the water off, she turned around, and saw Scooby's lifeless body.
"It looked like he had been almost torn in half and maimed by a Mountain Lion," Allen said. "I could see him and that was surreal. That's not really happening. That's not him. It can't be."
She said she doesn't understand how the driver didn't see her 60-pound dog.
"They didn't stop. They did not swerve. They did not brake," Allen said. "All he said was my supervisor's on his way. That was it."
The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office found the driver wasn't at fault.
A Waste Management spokesperson said based on their drivecams and GPS system, the driver did everything he could to stop. She said the accident was unavoidable because the dog was not on a leash, and the company expresses their deepest sympathies.
The family is now doing their own investigation with measurements and duct tape, hoping the company holds the driver accountable.
Allen said because her dog is a registered service dog, it isn't required to be on a leash, just within verbal command of its handler.
