Amazon Delivery Driver Takes Wrong Turn, Becomes Hero After Saving Drowning Dog
Many times in life, wrong turns are simply wrong turns. We get lost for no real productive reason, and once we get back on our way we forget the incident.
But for John Cassabria, driving the wrong way meant saving a life — something he will not soon forget.
A driver for Amazon in Woburn, Massachusetts, Cassabria heard something awful while delivering packages. An animal lover, he could tell something sounded wrong, so he got out of his van to investigate a nearby backyard.
“I’ve never heard anything like that in my life,” he told CNN. “I actually heard it over the reversing beep of my van.”
“I saw a dog — the dog being Luka– barely standing in the pool. My heart sank as if I was watching an ASPCA commercial from 2005 when they played Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Angel.'”
Realizing that the pup wouldn’t last much longer, Cassabria made the call to enter the yard to save the dog.
“I dove into the pool with my shoes, wallet, car keys — the whole nine,” he explained. “And I swam with [Luka] in my arms the best I could hold him from the midway point of the pool to the shallow end and hoisted him and myself out of the pool.”
Julie Caldwell and her husband had left their home in that neighborhood to go on vacation that morning. A neighbor was set to come over and check on the couple’s 14-year-old Siberian husky, Luka, while they were out of town.
But apparently, shortly after they left, their dog had somehow gotten into their pool, which he normally stayed away from.
“We have a doggie door and he’s used that doggie door for 15 summers,” Caldwell told CNN. “He goes outside, goes right to the bathroom, and normally goes back in and stays in the air conditioned house.”
Too old to get out of the pool on his own, Luka was stuck and in danger of drowning — and likely would have been found dead by the neighbor had Cassabria not taken a wrong turn, noticed the odd sound and gone to help.
Thankfully, Cassabria noticed and stopped by in time. He called the police and stayed with the dog until the neighbor came over and could handle the situation from there.
When the owners got a call from the Woburn police, it shocked them both.
“I dropped the phone,” Caldwell said. “I just started crying and I dropped the phone. I couldn’t even talk.”
“This came as a complete shock to us.”
According to WBZ-TV, the pup may have been lured in because of a bone that had gotten wrapped in the pool vacuum’s cord.
The grateful owner did everything she could think of to thank her elderly dog’s rescuer.
She thanked Cassabria personally, but also wrote to Jeff Bezos to commend him.
“I can’t thank him enough,” Caldwell wrote. “Words cannot express how grateful we are to him. In fact, I have tears in my eyes as I write this email. Luka is doing fine thanks to your wonderful and courageous employee.”
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