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UTAH COUNTY - When you're cruising on the interstate, you have little time to react to hazards. Imagine hitting an animal that weighs 1,000 to 1,200 pounds.
Late Saturday night, Leah Hill and her husband were headed south on I-15 near Orem, driving 65 mph, when all of a sudden to two horses came into view.
"Last minute, have to swerve out of the way because there's horses coming at us, running at us, galloping towards us; so that was just insane," Hill said.
Hill and her husband shared a couple of moments of disbelief. "Just as we kind of gathered our wits, there was another horse coming at us," she said. "We had to swerve the car again. We almost hit all three horses." There were no riders, no saddles; just three big animals in a dark construction area.
"We knew someone was going to get hit," Hill said. So she and her husband slowed down, honked the horn and called 911.
They were nearing the 800 North exit when they saw the horses. Two other cars hit the horses not far from 1600 North.
Trooper Justin Cloward, with the Utah Highway Patrol, says it was two horses and a mule. The accident ripped the roof off of one car.
"The impact of the crash was at full freeway speed," Cloward said. "Both drivers that we talked to never even saw the animals until it was impact."
The UHP says the animals got loose from a field on Geneva Road. The owner was located Tuesday, and was out of town when the accident happened. Troopers want to find out how the animals got loose, but they do not think the owner was negligent.
Hill says it was a frightening sight she won't soon forget. She's glad the drivers who hit the animals only had minor injuries. "They were right there," she said, "and if we would've been looking down at our phone even for just a second we would have hit them. It's a scary experience."
One horse and one mule were killed in the crash. The other horse had to be put down because of its injuries.
E-mail: jboal@ksl.com
