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Hampton teachers take action to help dog hit by car on I-64

Posted at 11:24 PM, Apr 13, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-13 23:24:16-04

NORFOLK, Va. - Two Hampton Middle School teachers say their normal commute to work took an unexpected turn on Wednesday morning.

They both got to their carpool meeting spot behind schedule, which landed them in a big back-up on I-64 in Norfolk right before the HRBT.

Now they feel it was meant to be.

"I don't know if that was God's plan, make sure they are late today so they can be there, but we were," says Dana Wright.

Wright and Caitlin White say they quickly realized the source of the back-up was a dog lying in the middle of the road.

"Everybody just seemed to not care about it. One lady had gotten out of her car and she was bent over to the dog," says White. "I just thought to myself, this isn't right."

White says the woman told them the dog was hit by a car and the car drove off.

Caitlin says she then made the decision to park her car horizontally on the highway to shield them.

"He was still alive, his back legs were just not in good shape because he couldn't move," says Wright.

The two say they got out of the car to help and direct traffic away.

"We talk to our kids at school about bullying and doing the right thing versus the wrong thing," says White. "For me, it was just a natural reaction, it was just the right thing to do."

"There were about four other cars that stopped so it was definitely a team effort of people that don't know each other," says Wright. "Just total strangers, pulling over on the side of the road because they saw a dog."

The women say they waited with the dog until VDOT crews arrived to help move the dog to the side of the road.

"Everyone we talked to about it wants to know, 'how is the dog?'" And so do we, we're like, we hope to God he is still OK."

A spokesperson for Virginia State Police says the dog was handed over to Norfolk Animal Control.

NewsChannel 3 reached out to them to check-in on the condition of the dog, but we are still waiting to hear back.