CLEVELAND — Dead Man’s Curve on I-90 in Cleveland is notorious for crashes, often caused by drivers going too fast.
But the keen eye of one tow truck driver caught sight of two dogs near the freeway who were at risk of getting hit. He called the Cleveland Police, and they showed up to help rescue the dogs.
It was the night of Jan. 27. Snow was on the ground. The temperature was about 9 degrees, with a wind chill of -3 degrees.
"They’re too stressed. Hi, come here. Come on,” people are heard saying on Cleveland Police body-camera video.
Two rottweilers were underneath the big tow truck, likely scared to make a move.
“Hi baby,” a person says on the video.
Officers told me another Good Samaritan also stopped, and she had dog treats with her.
“Let’s see if this helps,” an officer said while grabbing the treats and moving closer to the dogs.
As the officer throws the food on the ground near the dogs, they slowly start to emerge from underneath the tow truck.
As trust builds, the dogs fully come out.
“I didn’t forget about you, buddy,” an officer says while tossing more dog treats.
A trail of food leads the dogs to a patrol car with its back door open.
“You guys are beautiful dogs. Can I see your collar real quick, bud?” someone says.
The dogs continue to get a pep talk.
"You’re a huge dude. You are a big boy. The size of your neck is huge. I hope you know that,” a person is heard saying.
But the rottweilers weren’t ready to commit and refused to jump inside the police cruiser.
It took the officers about an hour to finally get the dogs to safety; however, the body-camera footage released to News 5 didn’t show that part.
But officers told me the dogs went to a kennel and were reunited with their owner. Cleveland Police said it’s a classic case of “if you see something, say something.”
"We want to have, again, that relationship with the community where they can have us work with them… to then get these dogs home in this case and make everyone happy,” said Officer Mariah Rodriguez with Cleveland Police.
Police said the dogs had run away from their owner, who was looking for them.
"And at first, it was posted on social media that the dogs were dumped there, and it turned out that was not the case," Rodriguez said.
The rottweiler rescue teaches a few lessons, and among them, that it only takes a moment to stop and do the right thing.
Damon Maloney is a Cuyahoga County and We Follow Through anchor at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @DMaloneyTV, on Facebook DamonMaloneyTV or email him at Damon.Maloney@wews.com.
