ROXBURY, Mass. — It was an emotional reunion for Sandra Denman and her service dog Lexi after someone stole her car with her dog inside Tuesday. Denman, who works for A.R. Belli, said she had just parked at a job site to pave the intersection near Warren and Gaston streets in Roxbury.
“Walked over to a coworker and as I turned around in that 2-3 minutes, the vehicle was gone, including my service dog,” Denman said.
Her keys, phone and dog were all inside the car when someone hopped in and took off. Denman’s first thoughts:
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“What just happened? Number one. Number two is, who would do this? And number three is my service dog. I could care less about the car, but she’s everything to me,” Denman said.
Eventually, police found Lexi wandering the streets nearby and brought her back to her owner. Denman was overjoyed.
“I work with her every day, without her I wouldn’t be able to work,” Denman said. “I suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm, you know, I suffer from complex PTSD and anxiety panic attack disorder, and I rely on her very heavily.”
She said her car is still missing, but she’s just thankful to have Lexi back and hopes whoever stole her car didn’t hurt her.
“Sometimes these interactions can actually hurt the service dog and put them straight into retirement, and these people have zero consideration for how much training and how much work goes into having a service dog,” Denman said.