While it would have been nice if
Joeyman had stopped and tried to help the dog he didn't, for reasons of his own. He alone has to live with the decision he made.
I have been in a similar situation and run over a dog that run in front of my car, all while the owners child stood in the front yard and watched. There was nothing I could do, a tree blocked my view and I didn't even have time to swerve. I turned back around and helped the man get the dog out of the road. The dog died before we even got it back to his house. I felt horrible with that child bawling her eyes out, and I'll remember her face for the rest of my life.
While the man was nice enough, the house they lived in was rough and they had the reputation of being drug dealers. I found this out later that afternoon. I have no idea if it was true or not, but it did make me start thinking. What
if the man had
not been as understanding or had been hopped up on coke? It's a pretty common thing to see someone go ballistic over much less than that with the state of the world being what it is today. So while it's definitely a sad thing that happened I can understand why someone might be reluctant to find the owner.
The sole responsibility for this does fall back onto the owner of the pet. If you think you are responsible enough to have a pet,you should have enough sense to make sure that that the pet cannot make his way into the road. I see too many people around where I live that let their pets run free. That is just as cruel as not providing food and water for them. Pets do not know or understand the implications of running in front of a vehicle until it is too late. It is your responsibility as a pet owner to make sure that can never take place.
Pets that run free are also a nuisance to your neighbors, people walking or jogging, meter readers and other utility and road maintainance people. These people often carry various dog sprays or sticks and could possibly use them on you pet if they feel they are in danger. Would anyone want their pet subjected to this??
If anyone would like to report someone in this instance to the SPCA, you need to make sure it's the owner you report. It should be checked that he had provided adequate protection for his pet, and hopefully they would find that the dog had just gotten loose. However it wouldn't surprise me if they found out otherwise.