The owner of a horse that collided with a Valley Transit
Authority bus carrying 18 passengers has not been located. The
incident occurred at 7 p.m. Thursday on Hale Avenue south of Kalana
Avenue. The horse did not did not immediately die upon impact and
suffered severe injuries. A Tri-County Animal Hospital veterinarian
tranquilized and then euthanized the animal at the scene about 7:30
p.m.
Morgan Hill
The owner of a horse that collided with a Valley Transit Authority bus carrying 18 passengers has not been located. The incident occurred at 7 p.m. Thursday on Hale Avenue south of Kalana Avenue.
The horse did not did not immediately die upon impact and suffered severe injuries. A Tri-County Animal Hospital veterinarian tranquilized and then euthanized the animal at the scene about 7:30 p.m.
California Highway Patrol officers were the first to the incident and decided it was unsafe to shoot the horse to put it out of its misery. They immediately called the on-call animal control officer, Alberto Escobar, who said a he contacted the vet.
“Everyone out there, did the right thing,” Escobar said, who is the county’s animal control program manager. “It could have been much worse.” He added that the situation was unfortunate and there was nothing they could have done to save the animal that was hit by a 20,000 pound bus.
“We didn’t feel that it would be safe at the time (to shoot the horse),” CHP officer Jaime Rios said. He said that if an animal is suffering and it’s on a freeway or in a rural area, officers have the authority to euthanize it.
Rios said the bus on southbound line 68 was traveling about 40 mph when it struck the horse.
VTA spokesperson Jennie Hwang Loft said the horse ran loose from a group of horses in a pasture when it ran in front of the bus. She said the bus driver suffered minor injuries.
A VTA bus stop is located at Hale and Kalana avenues, but authorities are unsure how near it was to where the accident occurred. The roadway was closed for about 90 minutes and the bus was eventually towed away. The horse was taken away upon euthanization and passengers were eventually picked up by another VTA bus and taken to their destination.
No passengers reported any injuries but the bus sustained extensive damage, according to the VTA. Rios said no drugs or alcohol were involved.
There will not be any criminal charges filed because no passengers were injured. Rios said he can’t say if there would be any civil charges filed.
A man who drove by the incident, but did not want to be identified, said the horse was laying in the middle of the street, flopping around.
“I’ve seen a lot, but that was pretty brutal,” he said.
