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Family says reckless driver hit, killed puppy

Posted at 5:51 PM, Apr 19, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-19 18:51:01-04

A Brookside family is mourning the loss of their puppy after it was run over by what they say was a reckless driver. 

Eleven-year-old Joseph Cherrito and his friends were headed out the door last Friday when the family's 5-month-old Shiba Inyu puppy, Doge, ran out.

Within seconds, they say an SUV flew by so fast along Pennsylvania near Meyer that the SUV's license plate was hard to make out from the homeowner's surveillance system.

The SUV hit the dog, and the driver didn't stop. It's unclear if the driver knew if he hit the puppy.

Joseph watched it unfold, then ran to his dog.

"Like I freaked out. Like, I wanted to save him, so I opened the trunk and we rushed to the hospital," he said.

Ironically, just three days before the hit-and-run, the Cherrito family called 311, Kansas City's information request line, to complain about drivers speeding through the area. The city responded and put in a traffic monitoring system. The cables, located about 100 yards south of the Cherritos’ home, will be in place for the next few weeks, measuring traffic volume. Workers will then use that information to see if they have to install extra precautions like speed bumps, more signs or stop lights.

We talked with the city, who told us in the past five years, they've stepped up their traffic monitoring along Meyer Boulevard. They also plan to add live monitoring cameras to the stoplight one block away at Meyer and Wornall.

Now that the Shiba Inyu that gave the Cherritos so much love is gone, the family just wants to make sure that this tragedy doesn't happen again in what they say is an otherwise great neighborhood.

"It was probably not his fault, it was probably my dog's fault. But yeah, I forgive him," father Joe Cherrito said.

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