07022024 A good Samaritan saved one horse but two were struck and killed Tuesday night on Interstate 5, after the animals were thought to have escaped from a nearby ranch, according to California Highway Patrol officials investigating the incident.

Josh Greengard, spokesman for the CHP’s Newhall area office, said he did not know if the owners of the horses had been contacted, but officers were reaching out to ranches in the nearby area for notification as of about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The initial report from the CHP indicated the call went out at 8:59 p.m., for “three horses running in the lanes,” according to CHP Officer Garcia, who declined to give his first name. The initial location was the westbound lanes of Interstate 210 transition to the northbound lanes of Interstate 5.

L.A. City Fire Department officials said they responded to a vehicleversushorse collision at 9:08 p.m. and reported that one vehicle collided with a horse, according to Nicholas Prange of the L.A. City Fire Department.

One person was taken to the hospital, but no information was available regarding the severity of the patient’s injuries.

Several CHP officers from Newhall responded one minute later to the interstate, near the transition to the northbound lanes of Interstate 5, and learned a second horse also was struck, Greengard said.

Officers are investigating all possibilities, but there was no evidence or indication the animals came from a vehicle on the freeway, Greengard said. There are multiple equestrian ranches in the surrounding area, he added.
One of the deceased horses was in the carpool lane and the other was found in between the farright lanes on the northbound side of Interstate 5, near the Balboa Boulevard exit, according to Greengard.

Additional reports described good Samaritans holding a loose horse on the right shoulder of Interstate 5, where they were able to corral the animal just south of the Highway 14 transition, Greengard said.

A SIGAlert was issued in response to the initial investigation, according to Garcia.
SOURCE: THESIGNAL, SANTA CLARITA