Hoyt and his son J.D. are driving along the Interstate in Detroit this Friday morning, according to Tom Greenwood, writing for The Detroit News. This would be a day J.D. would long remember. Daddy Hoyt is driving. The 81-year-old is in remarkable health. He golfed three times a week, and right now the two men are on their way to Livonia to help paint J.D.’s sister’s house.

Suddenly there’s a loud crash. J.D., in the passenger’s seat, feels a sharp pain on his left shoulder. He remembers seeing, for an instant, a dark object in his peripheral vision.

Next J.D. notices his father’s eyes are closed and he’s moaning. Little shiny things are scattered in his dad’s hair and on his chest.

The sudden rush of cold air brings J.D. to his senses. The windshield is smashed! Hoyt’s foot is still on the gas pedal, although he’s unconscious. The car is running out of control.

J.D. tries to change gears to neutral, but the lever won’t budge. He pulls his father’s foot off the gas pedal and grabs the wheel. Gradually the car slows down and comes to rest against the median wall. Other drivers stop to offer help and call 911.

A trooper reports the driver has numerous cuts on his face and hands and the passenger has a gash on his left shoulder. Each hands the trooper his driver’s license and says something huge came crashing through the windshield.

Only then did they think to look into the back seat. There, lies the corpse of a large black Labrador retriever. The trooper later learns the dog escaped from his fenced-in back yard and was chased by the family’s children. Apparently the dog made an ill-timed leap from the Interstate overpass trying to avoid capture.

Hoyt’s injuries are greater than anybody realizes. He is hospitalized for observation but dies two days later from a brain hemorrhage.