MANVEL, TX – They say those officers left the dog there, saying it couldn’t be recovered for at least two days.

FOX 26 spoke to Manvel Police Chief Keith Traylor.

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He calls the response his officers gave to the dog unfortunate and new procedures are in place to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.

“He may have been thrown from a car or hit by a car,” said Cindy Cortinas of Lone Star Pawz Rescue.

No one knows exactly what happened to this puppy now named Jackson. But it was clear he desperately needed help.

“I knew his leg might be broken and he had head trauma and I called Manvel PD,” Cindy said.

“The other officer came with a leash, and what happened was the dog was lying here, and the officer didn’t put the leash on inappropriately. It was on his ear so that the dog can easily escape,” said Jackson, 14. Cernoch.

The two police officers reportedly told Michelle Coates last Friday that the dog could not be recovered until Monday.

“There was no one to go to for animal control, and that was it,” Michelle said. “They didn’t go in there and bring him anything. Jackson was the only one who could get in there, as close as him. That dog didn’t want anyone but Jackson.”

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Lone Star Pawz Rescue saw a Facebook post about the dog and took him to the vet.

“She just put the leash on him and picked him up and took him away,” Cindy said. “He never tried to criticize us. Even though he was in so much pain and his leg was hanging.”

Jackson had surgery on his leg and is now on the mend. He is living with a foster family and will hopefully find his forever home soon.

Cindy says the police response was unacceptable.

“Really. We have two animal control officers now. Not one, but two,” she said.

Chief Traylor says they are building an animal control unit from the ground up, and started last November.

Since this incident, its two animal control officers have become certified and now have custody procedures in place.

Lone Star Pawz named the dog Jackson.

“They asked me my name, I said it was Jackson. So they named the dog after me,” he said.

The best part of this story is that Jackson is on his way to a happy life.

“And my son has a dog named after him,” Michelle said.