Horse seriously injured in suspected DUI crash

A horse was seriously injured when a suspected drunk driver slammed into the back of a horse trailer on Interstate 10 in Cabazon early this morning.

The crash occurred at 2:30 a.m. near the Main Street exit on the eastbound side of the freeway.

The young male Appaloosa named Oliver was thrown forward then backwards into the mangled back doors of the horse trailer on impact and suffered injuries to his head and right hind leg, according to Riverside County Animal Services Sgt. Lesley Huennekens.

The woman suspected of drunk driving was traveling between 80 and 90 miles per hour when she hit the horse trailer, according to Huennekens.

“It is my understanding that the suspected drunken driver hit the trailer with enough force that the horse slipped out of its halter. That was the power of the impact. Imagine a slingshot with an 800-pound animal,” said Huennekens.

The horse ran loose on the freeway for a few minutes after the crash, but the transport driver was able to wrangle Oliver and apply a makeshift tourniquet on the injured leg, which was bleeding profusely.

“Had he not done that, I don’t think we would have had as good of a
result,” Huennekens said.

Oliver was rushed to San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus where he received treatment for his wounds.

“We are optimistic that this horse may survive. We will have a better idea of that on Sunday or Monday,” said Animal Services spokesman John Welsh.

A second horse inside the trailer was not seriously injured nor was the transport driver who was taking the horses from Winchester to Texas.