A trucker was fired over the weekend after rolling his rig to avoid striking a brake-checking motorist but now, even in the face of unemployment, all he wants is the safe return of his two beloved dogs, taken in by a local animal shelter following the wreck.
The accident happened on Friday morning, April 27th in Harrisonville, Missouri.
According to WLOX News, trucker James McGilvary and his wife Stacie were traveling along Interstate 49 hauling around 60 head of cattle when a white pickup began driving erratically.
“There was a white pick-up truck. [It] kept playing with me. He hit his breaks in front of me. One time I backed off, and then another time I got up behind him, backed off a little bit, and he kept playing with his brakes,” James explained.
James then tried to pass the troublesome motorist, but the truck sped up and pulled in front of him again, hitting his brakes.
“I swerved to miss him and lost control of the truck, and I laid the truck over,” he continued.
“The next thing I know I get up to get ready to go up front to sit with him, and it’s happening. The wreck. It happened so fast, but therefore in slow motion,” said Stacie of the incident.
The driver of the pickup fled the scene immediately following the accident and first responders had to help James and Stacie, as well as their two dogs, Princess and Muffin, out of the wrecked semi truck.
James was taken to the hospital for head and rib injuries, and, luckily, Stacie was uninjured. Their two dogs were taken in by the Harrisonville Animal Shelter while James recovered in the hospital.
Now truckless, the couple was forced to find a ride back home to Biloxi. They were offered transportation home on Sunday, but the animal shelter housing their beloved dogs wouldn’t open until Monday morning, so the couple had to make a decision – arrange to stay another day and wait to pick up their dogs before attempting to arrange another ride, or snag the free ride and find a way to retrieve their pets later.
Unfortunately, with no money and no job, the couple was forced to take the free ride offered to them. Now though, they are home and asking for help in reuniting with their treasured over-the-road companions.
“If he stepped out of the truck, they cried. If I stepped out of the truck, they cried,” Stacie said of the dogs.
I wonder what are they thinking. Because they had serious [separation anxiety] issues with us… They were like my children. I cry. That’s the only thing I cry over is them.”
If you would like to help get Princess and Muffin back home to Biloxi from the Harrisonville Animal Shelter, James asks you to please give him a call at (601)-466-7752.