WATCH: A woman and a guide dog were struck in a downtown Victoria crosswalk Thursday and the dog’s owner is worried the trauma might prevent his dog from working again. April Lawrence reports.
Brian Frank and his guide dog Cody were waiting to cross the road to Royal Bank at Douglas and Fort in downtown Victoria Thursday afternoon. After a short wait, the walk signal switched on and the chirp that goes along with it, giving Cody and Brian their cue to cross safely. Or so they thought.
“I took one step and suddenly I hear people screaming and shouting look out, look out, the harness was in my hand and suddenly it was jerked sideways,” said Frank.
A car had run the red light, reportedly trying to make it into an open parking spot on Douglas. It had struck Cody and a woman, who received non-life threatening injuries.
Frank, who is blind, didn’t know what was happening.
“When you can’t see what’s going on then I’m wondering is there another car coming, should I be running away or ducking some more, I didn’t even know what I should be doing to make us safe, that was really the scary part,” said Frank.
The driver was handed two tickets.
“One for failing to yield to a pedestrian and the other for failing to stop at a red light at an intersection,” said Victoria Police Const. Matt Rutherford.
A police officer drove Brian and Cody to the vet. Fortunately, the poodle’s injuries were minor — a cut paw and sore neck. But he’s been highly anxious ever since and Frank worries about the long-term psychological impacts.
“He was so traumatized by that I’m hoping it’s not going to affect his ability to work because he has to be able to function walking around the streets where there’s cars driving,” Frank said.
Frank is thanking the supportive police officers who helped him at the scene and pleading with drivers to slow down.
“Just slow down. In a second you could change people’s lives, yours and someone else’s.”
April Lawrence
