Driving dog hits reverse in car and circles backward for an hour

In this case, the disobedient driver doing donuts in the cul de sac was a dog.

The dizzying drama began at about 8 a.m. Thursday in the 2600 block of Southwest Edith Court in Port St. Lucie when the owner of a silver 2003 Mercury Sable made a wrong turn and got out to check on something he saw on the street. He left the car running, and his big black dog Max hit the stick shift and put the car in reverse.

As it started looping around the roadway, the door closed and locked, police said.

Anna Sabol noticed from her nearby home when her three dogs started barking wildly.

“I looked out the window and noticed the police out there and then I saw the car going backwards in a circle,” she said. “There was a dog in there the whole time.

“It was going on for about an hour,” added Sabol, who lives on Chestnut Lane across from the cul-de-sac. “It was turning and turning and turning in a perfect circle."

Sabol said the car eventually went straight up onto a lawn, where it was slowed by the incline and hit a mailbox, and police stopped it.

The car was still locked and running with the dog inside, so police tried to use the owner’s spare key fob to unlock the car door but the battery was dead. Then, officers entered a code on a keypad located on the driver side door and it opened.

“It was a pretty funny little situation,” Sabol said. “It made my day, obviously.”

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Sabol recorded video of the event on her cellphone.

“They should give that dog a [driver’s] license,” she added. “He drives better than some people I’ve seen on the roads here.”

Max was in good health, police said. No comment could be discerned.

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wkroustan@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4303 or Twitter @WayneRoustan