Cody Wallace broke his leg and totaled his truck on Fort Hampton Road in the span of a few seconds on June 17.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the 17-year-old’s red-nosed pitbull terrier, Baby, fled the scene after the wreck.

The brown and white dog with a upside-down heart marking on his left hind-leg was riding in the bed of Cody’s 1982 Ford truck as he drove along Fort Hampton Road, four miles north of Athens, about 6:45 p.m., Lovell said.

“All Cody can remember is driving, seeing a car in his lane and taking the field off to the left,” Lovell said. “He sideswiped a telephone pole and then hit a tree head-on about 25 or 30 feet from the pole. The truck was totaled and the front tire was in the floorboard.”

Cody was taken by ambulance to Athens-Limestone Hospital and then transferred by MedFlight helicopter to Huntsville Hospital, where a doctor performed surgery on his leg the next day. He is now recovering at home on Sewell Road.

Lovell has been looking for Baby since the wreck because Cody is worried sick about him. She has inquired at The Dog Pound and has asked people living near the wreck site.

“One man said he saw Cody’s truck pass by just before the wreck, “ Lovell said. “I asked him if Cody was speeding because, as a parent, you wonder about that. He said he didn’t think he was – that he was going about right. He said he didn’t see the accident but he heard it and saw the dog.

A woman who owns the tree Cody struck told Lovell she saw a dog matching Baby’s description Wednesday morning, June 24, while assessing how much damage rabbits had done to her sweet potatoes.

“She said he was howling,” Lovell said.

Cody and his mother believe Baby may have stayed in the area of the wreck and is looking for his master.

“He is a family dog and has been raised with kids and other dogs,” Lovell said. “He is a lovable dog, but we don’t know if he is injured.”

Anyone who has any information about Baby’s whereabouts is asked to call Lovell at (256) 444-0357 or (256) 321-5181