ENCINAL, Texas — Some might call it a chance encounter.
It was around 1:30 a.m. last Friday when Encinal Police officers Angel Esparza and Jonathan Ponce were driving back from the La Salle County Jail on I-35 after dropping off an individual they had arrested.
That’s when they saw it: a scared little dog, stranded on the side of the highway.
The two officers jumped into action, stopping traffic so they could coax the dog off the road an to safety.
The officers’ body cam video shows the moment the dog jumped into their patrol car, almost as if the pup knew he was finally safe.
Esparaza noticed the dog’s tags were out of Harris County, in the Houston area—a long way from home.
That's when they realized this may not have been a chance encounter after all.
Days before, Encinal Police were called in to help with a one-vehicle rollover accident off I-35 over 10 miles from their usual patrol area. Officials said that inside the vehicle were seven family members and their pets, driving back to their home in Houston.
“It was a tragic accident,” said Encinal Police Chief Pablo Balboa III. “There were children involved in the accident, and lives were lost.”
Seven-year-old Julian Matthew Vela and 10-year-old Heriberto Jaime Junior died in the accident, while other family members were seriously hurt.
Adding to the family’s grief, Julian’s chihuahua disappeared after the accident.
That is, until those two Encinal Police officers spotted the stranded, scared little dog off the side of the highway.
“God works in mysterious ways,” Ponce said.
“It turns out that the dog – which is name is Firu, by the way, F-I-R-U – belonged to a 7-year-old boy that was involved in the accident,” Balboa added.
With a broken leg and a will to survive, Firu had traveled six miles from the scene of the accident.
Esparza and Ponce said the dog was limping and covered in thorns.
“I believe he was waiting for someone to pick him up, just looking at his face,” said Ponce.
The next day, the officers took Firu to a vet in Laredo who treated the dog for his injuries.
And, for almost a week while the family was still recovering in the hospital, the officers took care of Firu as if the dog was their own.
“He became part of our family and the City of Encinal,” said Ponce.
Until Tuesday, when Esparza and Ponce took Firu to be reunited with his family.
Esparza’s body cam video shows the emotional reunion, Heriberto’s mother embraced Firu as the little dog licked her face.
The family also had a cat that survived the accident. Esparza said a Border Patrol agent took care of the cat until it was also brought to the family on Tuesday.
“Our job, it extends to more than just catching the bad guy. So if we can lend a helping hand even to a different species, a dog, for instance, you know, we're going to answer the call,” said Balboa. “It just shows you that there’s a heart behind the badge.”
So, perhaps it was a call of duty, or maybe a chance encounter.
“We saw him and were like, 'Was that a Chihuahua?' We were afraid he was going to run into the road,” Esparza told the family on Tuesday.
“It kind of makes you wonder, you know, the officers being placed at the right spot at the right time,” said Balboa. “I’m at a loss for words.”
But to these officers, they believe it was something else.
“I believe that me and my partner, Angel, we were there that night because the child wanted us to find that dog there in the side of the road,” said Ponce. “And, he wanted his parents to know that he's safe.”
The family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral expenses for the Julian and Heriberto who were cousins.
Esparza and Ponce said they’d be attending the services for the boys.