Dallas PD squad car hit while officers rescue hurt dog

DALLAS - A series of events on I-35 nearly ended with two officers seriously injured.

Two Dallas officers stopped to help a dog struck by a vehicle during the Tuesday afternoon rush. That's when a car came careening out of control into them.

It was on a stretch of I-35 North near Ann Arbor Avenue where officers Gabriel Zarazua and Alexander Zabriskie first spotted a dog darting through traffic during rush hour.

"We turned around. By the time we got there, unfortunately, the dog had got hit," Zarazua said. "It was laying in the left lane. We thought the worst."

While the officers went to move the dog, they heard a noise.

"That's when we hear tires screeching," Zarazua recalled.

"I had nowhere to go so I just jumped on the hood of the vehicle," Zabriskie said. "Luckily, the vehicle stopped as I landed right on the hood."

A car hit their squad car. But with neither officer injured and the dog still alive, a group of other officers arriving rushed the dog to East Lake Veterinary Hospital where Luigi is now recovering.

"He's a young dog," said Karen Fling with the veterinary hospital. "So we're optimistic he'll have a great life ahead of him."

Veterinary officials say the around 1-year-old dog had no microchip or identifiers. They believe he's likely a stray who found a group of officers to care for him in the unlikeliest of places.

"These officers were amazing and truly heroes, I would say, that they stepped in in the way they did," Fling said.

Luigi has a fractured vertebra and a fractured pelvis. He'll need a specialist's help, but he is expected to make a full recovery. The veterinary hospital has set up a donation page to help Luigi recover.