Hit & Run Driver Kills Poodle And Nearly Kills Owner
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Carla Rescia sobbed, weeping the tears of a mother who has lost a child. She feels she has.
Rescia's salt and pepper poodle mix, Pasta, was struck and killed by a hit and run driver Sunday who also hit the dog's owner.
Rescia had just pulled into her drive on Northeast 18th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. She and her dog hopped out of the car.
Pasta the poodle stepped ever so slightly into the street. Rescia reached to pick up the dog, and they were both struck by a car speeding southbound on the avenue.
"I can't believe he drove away. I can't believe he drove away," Rescia said Monday, tears coursing down her cheeks. "He stopped because he hit me, and then the moment I held the dog in my arms, picked him up, he just drove off."
Pasta died in his owner's arms. Rescia, who caught a more glancing blow from the car, was treated for scrapes and bruises at a nearby hospital.
"Pasta was my baby, he was happy, just a happy boy," Rescia said. I saved his life 13 1/2 years ago and he knew it. He was a happy dog," she said of the doe-eyed pup she rescued from the animal shelter. "It never should have happened. The guy was going way too fast."
Fort Lauderdale Police believe the hit and run driver was behind the wheel of a newer model Mercury Montego, black with four doors.
"I want him to turn himself in," Rescia said. "Even a simple 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry' would be something."
Rescia, a dog groomer by trade is a lifetime dog lover. A small sign by her front door reads, "No home is complete without the pitter-patter of little doggie feet."
Rescia's bruises and abrasions from her near death experience will heal. She says her heart, broken by the loss of her beloved Pasta, will not.
Anyone with information is asked to call Broward CrimeStoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
