Elissa Ussery was preparing Tuesday to start her day at her home in Lockhart when she heard a loud crash. She heard her dog Birdie, a 3-year-old mutt, scream while the crashing noises continued. Ussery thought maybe the ceiling had collapsed.
Instead, she walked outside and saw a truck had crashed into her home office.
It wasn’t just the home that had sustained damage. Ussery and her partner, Erin Cooper, took Birdie to the veterinarian and found that Birdie had three broken ribs and fluid around her spleen and bladder. She had to go to an emergency vet, where she stayed for the next 36 hours.
Birdie has since come home, Ussery said, and she’s doing better. The hardest part, Ussery said, is that vets told them that they would have to keep Birdie from getting too excited for the next couple of weeks so she doesn’t puncture an organ — not an easy task when your dog is an “eternal puppy,” Ussery said.
Birdie “makes us laugh daily, and we are so happy she is back home with us,” Ussery said. “She loves people and other animals. She is a dream dog — happy-go-lucky and mischievous at times.”
Ussery said that since the incident, everyone in the house has been on high alert. That includes Birdie, who now gets scared when a garbage truck drives by.
While Ussery is thankful that no one else was severely injured and that Birdie is doing OK, she’s still upset about what happened.
Lockhart police arrested the driver of the truck on felony charges and cited the passenger for a misdemeanor, city spokeswoman Victoria Maranan said. The truck driver and the passenger were not intoxicated, but officers found the driver in possession of narcotics and the passenger in possession of drug-related equipment. Maranan did not identify the driver or the passenger but said an investigation is ongoing.
When Ussery first went outside, she said a man had exited the truck and started walking away. There was a woman with him, Ussery said, who claimed to be driving and said that their brakes weren’t working. The woman apologized for what had happened, Ussery said, but the man did not.
The truck didn’t have tags or a license plate, and the driver didn’t have insurance, Ussery said. This has meant that Ussery and Cooper will have to pay the deductible on their home insurance and Birdie’s vet bills.
A GoFundMe webpage was set up that raised more than $10,000 in two days. The GoFundMe effort has now stopped accepting donations since it reached its limit. But Ussery said she “feels guilty” about even having to take this money.
“Those people should be paying for this,” Ussery said.
Alice J. Roden started working for Trending Insurance News at the end of 2021. Alice grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. A writer with a vast insurance industry background Alice has help with several of the biggest insurance companies. Before joining Trending Insurance News, Alice briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers home, renters and other property insurance stories.