A New Jersey dog owner says her pet was wrongfully adopted by another family after she was injured in a car crash.

Linda Mancini was hospitalized and her miniature American Eskimo dog Nike was injured after she fell asleep at the wheel and crashed in May.

"You know how you nod off? I don't remember nodding off.  I just fell asleep and drove off the road,” Mancini says of the accident on Liberty Corner Road in Bernards.

Mancini was severely injured with a lacerated liver and broken ribs. Her dog Nike suffered nerve damage to his leg.

While in the hospital, with Manicini's consent, Nike was signed over by animal control to a group called Eskies Rescuers United. However, the group did not actually take the dog. Instead, ERU allowed the group Eskies Online to take Nike to Connecticut for rehabilitation.

Mancini says that while she recovered, she was holding onto a letter from animal control stating that they took custody of the dog after the crash. This is required by law.

The letter said, "After treatment is completed and Nike completely healed, Linda Mancini will follow up with Eskies Rescuers United to regain possession of the dog at that time."

But Mancini said that this never happened. She says that Nike was rehabbed, and then Eskies Online adopted him out on Aug. 16.

The group says that they finally heard from Mancini on Aug. 24. A representative tells News 12 New Jersey that they did not hear from Mancini for over two months after the crash.

“I didn’t contact them until I was better and stabilized,” says Mancini. “I needed a car. I needed a phone.”

Mancini says that she believes that the group took the dog away from her because they thought that she couldn’t care for it. She says that she has a right to have her dog back.

But Eskies Online representative Denise Gareau tells News 12 that Mancini has no standing and that Gareau has documentation to prove it.

Gareau says that because the group did not hear from Mancini for over two months, and also did not received the $3,000 in vet bills for Nike’s care, the dog was put up for adoption.

Mancini says Eskies Online should've reached out to her. She says she's the rightful owner of Nike and was just looking for some compassion while she recovered from a horrible car accident.

She says that she plans on hiring an attorney so that she can get her dog back.