Bridgeport woman in search of hit-and-run driver who fatally struck dog

Yesenia Rivera can't stop the tears when she talks about her basset hound, Lumi.

News 12 Staff

Sep 4, 2020, 6:26 PM

Updated 1,500 days ago

Share:

A Bridgeport woman is sharing her heartbreak after she says her dog was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

Yesenia Rivera can't stop the tears when she talks about her basset hound, Lumi. The dog's collar and favorite toy are now her prized possessions after the 8-month-old dog died Monday afternoon.
Rivera says just before 2 p.m., she and Lumi stepped out of her home on Burnsford Avenue.

She says Lumi wasn't on her leash yet when she saw the neighbor's kids across the street and ran to them. That's when she says a car came speeding by.
"I screamed! The driver didn't honk the horn, didn't even apply brakes or anything, just ran her over," Rivera says.
Rivera's home's security camera caught the blue car as it drove off.
"The driver of the vehicle that hit her…left my poor baby to die!" Rivera says. "She was bleeding and I was screaming and crying for help."
Neighbors rushed Rivera and Lumi to the nearby animal hospital, but Lumi's injuries were too serious to survive.
Rivera filed a police report and is now begging the driver to come forward.
"If you have a conscience, please turn yourself in," she says.
Rivera also reached out to Bridgeport's mayor about ways to crack down on speeding in the neighborhood.
She says it's a dangerous problem, one that's kept her neighbors' kids inside since Lumi's death.
"What happened to Lumi can happen to a child, can happen to a senior, can happen to anybody, and I don't want anybody to lose someone like I did," Rivera says.
In a response to Rivera, the mayor's office said her concerns will be forwarded to the police department's traffic division for investigation.