Loose dog on highway credited with saving owner’s life after car crash, NH cops say
Jan. 7: This article has been updated to include the dog’s owner is facing a DUI charge after the vehicle crash, according to police.
When cops were called to a loose dog running along the highway, it led them on an unusual chase across state lines, New Hampshire State Police said.
What authorities didn’t know when following the German shepherd into Vermont along the interstate was that it’d take them to its badly hurt, hypothermic owner after a car crash, according to a Jan. 4 news release on Facebook.
Now, state police credit the canine, named Tinsley, as saving its owner’s life and another vehicle occupant on Jan. 3.
Initially, a state trooper headed to a call about the loose German shepherd on Interstate 89 at the New Hampshire and Vermont border in Lebanon around 10 p.m., according to the release.
When the trooper and local police tried getting close to it on the highway, the determined dog kept running northbound, crossing into Vermont, state authorities said.
While still pursuing Tinsley, the officers discovered a damaged section of a guardrail near the Interstate 91 and Interstate 89 junction.
There, they saw a “badly damaged pickup truck that had rolled over,” according to police.
Two ejected occupants of the truck were found and were “hypothermic and seriously injured,” the release said. The officers learned that Tinsley belonged to one of the hurt individuals.
“They could tell the dog was trying to show them something” since “he kept trying to get away from them but didn’t run away totally,” state police Lt. Daniel Baldassarre told WMUR9.
“It was kind of, ‘Follow me. Follow me.’ And they did that and you know, to their surprise to see the guardrail damaged and to look down to where the dog is looking at, it’s just, they were almost in disbelief.”
Police quickly called for medical assistance to help the two people ejected from the truck, according to the release.
“The brave Tinsley is safe and well,” state police commented on their Facebook post.
The dog’s owner, Cameron Laundry was later accused of driving intoxicated at the time of the crash and now faces a DUI charge, according to police, WMUR9 and other outlets reported on Jan. 7.
A passenger in the car had a bulldog that died as a result of the crash, according to WCAX.
Laundry will make a court appearance in February and there’s potential for other charges to be filed against him, the outlet reported.
This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 5:14 PM.
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