(INSIDE EDITION) This poor puppy's life was turned upside down after he was found on the side of the road. Thankfully, a New York police officer went above and beyond the call of duty and gave the pup a new lease on life.
Patrolman Jon-David Hill from the Albany Police Department told InsideEdition.com he was working the desk on Halloween night when, two women came into the station with a crying pup wrapped in a blanket.
They said the puppy, which they estimated to be about 3 months old, had been thrown out of a moving vehicle.
"[The dog] was very skittish and scared of people," Hill said. "He started to warm up to us pretty quickly but he had a very serious swelling to his right front paw."
Hill said he contacted animal control according to procedure but, "when they came down, they saw he was injured and said they wouldn't be able to do anything for him. They said they would have to put him down."
Instead, Hill said he decided to take the pup under his wing, and adopt him.
"I didn't think it was fair," he said. "I didn't want his life to be pain and suffering and just be over. I was the right officer at that moment."
He left work early that night, and brought the injured pup, whom he named Jack, like a jack-o'-lantern, to a 24-hour animal hospital.
Veterinarians were originally optimistic they could fix the break in his leg, but they later discovered the injury was old, and the bone had deteriorated enough that Jack's best chance of living without pain would be amputation.
Days after the surgery, Hill said his now-three-legged puppy was back to his playful self.
"He's now playing ball, he's moving around really well, he's able to jump on the couch," he said. "He's nervous when he first meets people, but once he can smell you, he automatically starts licking everybody."
Although Hill said the cost of the unexpected surgery for the pup set him back more than $3,500, "He needed someone to take care of him. I wouldn't change it."
Patrolman Hill has since started a GoFundMe page for Jack's hospital bills.