Horse Ties Up Traffic On I-80
LAKE STATION, Ind. (CBS) -- A runaway horse named Geraldo snarled busy traffic along Interstate 80 in northwest Indiana during rush hour and escaped unscathed.
Geraldo can thank two motorists and four Indiana State troopers for his safety.
State Police Sgt. Ann Wojas said motorists began calling police about a horse on the busy highway about 4:30 p.m., near Colorado Street.
Motorists Colleen Flee of Chesterton and David Beckham of Crown Point saw the horse running on I-80 when it fell.
Flee and Beckham stopped their vehicles and Flee laid down next to the horse to keep it down and calm so it wouldn't dart out in traffic. Beckham stood by with Flee to help control the horse, who suffered just minor abrasions.
When Troopers Khari Walton, Dan Avitia, Eric Rot and Jerry George arrived, they found the horse lying down on the inner shoulder just east of Central Avenue.
Rot stopped eastbound traffic so that he could walk the horse across eastbound lanes over into the grassy area, behind the barrier wall on the outer shoulder so it wouldn't be "spooked" by all the traffic on I-80.
Lake Station and Hobart Police Departments assisted in finding the owner of the horse.
Marcelino Chavez, 62, of Hammond, said Geraldo had jumped over the fence where he's kept at 25th Avenue and Colorado Street and fled up the interstate. Chavez said that the horse is used in parades.
Traffic was shut down again for Chavez to load Geraldo up into his horse trailer.
All lanes reopened about 6:15 p.m.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
