A police dog that was left in a pickup truck with the engine running apparently knocked the vehicle into gear and ran down a woman who was walking to her mailbox.
Mary F Stone (41) was expected to remain hospitalised with a fractured pelvis and tailbone until at least Friday, said her husband, Paul Stone.
The dog, a German shepherd named Ranger, had been left in the truck while its handler responded to a domestic disturbance call on Tuesday, police Lieutenant Loring Draper said. The truck’s engine was on so Ranger would have air conditioning.
Draper said Ranger must have hit the shift on the steering column, putting the automatic transmission into gear. As the truck slowly rolled forward, police officers yelled to Stone, but she couldn’t get out of the way in time, he said.
A front and rear tyre ran over her. ”She had tyre marks on her clothes,” her husband said.
The truck then went through the Stones’s yard and struck a vehicle in the driveway.
Draper said police were trying to determine if there might have been some malfunction that would have allowed the gear shift to be moved easily. — Sapa-AP