Parkway dog reunited with owners

The dog tossed from a car on the Garden State Parkway on Saturday afternoon has been reunited with his owners.

Dog that was thrown out the window of a moving car on the Garden State Parkway (Red Bank Veterinary Hospital)

ABC 7 reports the dog, whose name is Lima, was stolen on Saturday from his Keansburg owners shortly before being thrown from a moving vehicle onto the Parkway around exit #116 in Holmdel. The unidentified family visited with Lima at the Red Bank Veterinary Hospital on Sunday.

After landing on the roadway, the brown female mixed terrier was struck by another car. A good Samaritan who saw what happened stayed with the dog and also called state police. A trooper rushed the dog to the veterinary hospital, where doctors were able to stop its internal bleeding and treat other injuries.

Before learning of the terrier's name, the SPCA's chief law enforcement officer, Buddy Amato, named the dog "Tara" in honor of New Jersey State Police trooper Tara Karagias who responded to the scene. “By her [the state trooper] racing it over to the Red Bank animal hospital, they were able to control the internal bleeding,” Amato told NJ.com. “The dog would have went into shock and died if she didn’t do that.”

The Monmouth County SPCA released a photo of Lima on the Red Bank Veterinary Hospital's Facebook page in hopes of getting witnesses to the incident to contact Amato, with information about the vehicle.

A $1,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case.

New Jersey Fast Traffic reports the Parkway was packed with shore-bound drivers early Saturday afternoon. Investigators are trying to determine if the dog was thrown from the vehicle or if it jumped out a window. If the investigation determines the dog was intentionally thrown from the vehicle, the driver and/or the person responsible could be charged with an indictable crime and face up to six months in jail.