Jasper waiting after hearing the garage door open.

The other day I was in the kitchen when I heard the garage door open. That’s when I noticed Jasper, our cat, get up and walk toward the hallway and sit in front of the door that leads to the garage.

My wife had just gotten home and our cat knew it was time for her canned food treat of the night. Watching the cat sit in the hallway reminded me of a collision story that I hadn’t thought about in a long time.

You might be wondering how this could be related to a crash story. Well, this is police work and sometimes the weirdest and saddest things happen.

About five years ago, I responded to a traffic collision in which a vehicle had struck a house. This doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, it’s a sight to see. When I got there, I saw a car inside a garage. It had crashed into the wall and the door that goes into the house. It was significant damage, but no one was injured. The driver, who was elderly, was shaken and a bit confused.

The fire department was on scene and was about to clear when someone told me, “She killed her dog.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“We found her dog inside the house at the door.”

“Wow.”

That’s when I imagined her dog hearing the garage door open and running to it because she was home. The poor dog never had a chance because the door and wall took the full force of the collision.

I decided I didn’t want to see the dog and completed the report like a regular crash. There was nothing else for me to do and neighbors were going to stand by with her until family arrived.

I left hoping the dog hadn’t suffered.