Target 8: UPS delivers after truck hits, kills family's dog

Posted: Aug 10, 2017 / 01:14 PM EDT

Updated: Aug 10, 2017 / 01:14 PM EDT

(WFLA) – UPS finally delivered after a Town N’ Country family’s dog was hit and killed back in March.

“I do think 8 On Your Side helped, I do,” said Janette Rickard.

According to Ms. Rickard, a new UPS division manager reached out to her offering condolences for her six-year-old dog, Champ.

“He says when he saw it on the news, he was like, ‘oh my goodness,’ you know, he was just like, ‘can’t believe it,'” she said.

What the new division manager saw was a video from a security camera owned by one of Rickard’s neighbors.

It shows Rickard’s dog darting across her Town N’ Country street. A UPS truck rolled right over him and kept going.

Champ was hit and killed in March. Ms. Rickard understood the dog should not have gotten loose, but she contends the driver should’ve stopped. She called UPS to complain.

“And then that’s when the lady told me, she goes, ‘it was probably Fed Ex,'” explained Ms. Rickard.

She contacted us in May.

UPS corporate told Target 8 the driver didn’t remember hitting anything. There was no damage to the truck and the local office contends there was no clear video showing a UPS truck hitting the dog.

Ms. Rickard wanted an apology.

That came a few months later when the new manager took over.

“He contacted me and he said ‘I saw the story on the news.’ He said how upset that he was at the way things were basically handled from the beginning, so it just didn’t seem like it was handled the way it should have been,” recalled Ms. Rickard.

She said the new manager even made a trip to meet her and her family.

“When he came out to the house, he came up and apologized and I ran up and gave him a hug, and [he] says ‘what was that for?’ And I said ‘you’re the only one who would listen, you know, and that’s all I wanted,'” said Ms. Rickard.

He also brought along a check to cover the cost of Champ’s cremation.

“I feel he kind of almost went above and beyond to try to correct the situation,” she said.

Rickard is grateful UPS finally delivered and that we felt her story was important enough to tell.

“Thank you,” she said.

If you know of something that should be investigated, call our Target 8 Helpline at 1 800 338-0808. Contact Steve Andrews at sandrews@wfla.com.