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Auburn dog recovering after being hit by van

Auburn dog recovering after being hit by van

Photo: 560 WGAN Newsradio


AUBURN (WGME) – An Auburn dog is recovering Friday night from severe injuries after being hit by a van.

The dog’s owner is angry the driver didn’t stop or call for help, and police say there’s not much they can do.

The dog was hit on South Main Street in Auburn this week, and Auburn police and the district attorney say they are investigating, but so far there are no charges.

Surveillance video appears to show the dog outside a fenced in area.

Seconds later, from another angle, the dog is under a van, then rolling down the road.

The video appears to show the driver of the van didn’t stop.

Ron Vye says he hasn’t been able to think about anything else since Wednesday morning when his 2-year-old dog, Bruiser, was hit.

“I share some of the responsibility,” Vye said.

Vye says his young grandson accidentally let the dog out, and because the dog was loose, he says Auburn police told him there was nothing they could do.

“That gives somebody the right to smash him in the road and leave him for dead? That’s pretty cruel,” Vye said.

Auburn police say they’re looking into what happened, but without a license plate number, they can’t ask the driver for his side of the story.

After CBS 13 asked District Attorney Andy Robinson about it, he said he would review it.

He says there’s no specific law requiring a driver to stop after hitting an animal.

But Robinson says a driver could be charged for leaving the scene of a property damage accident.

That’s what a teenager was charged with two years ago after hitting and killing a dog in Winthrop and taking off.

“I don’t know if he’s going to have any internal damage and that’s what the vet is worried about,” Vye said.

The owner of the dog says so far, he’s spent hundreds of dollars in vet bills. He’d like to find the owner of the van so he can take possible legal action of his own.

He posted the video on Facebook. It already has almost 40,000 views.

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