Pickup truck veers off Pa. highway, kills horse
PORTERSVILLE, Pa. - Police say a pickup truck veered off a Pennsylvania highway, smashed into a telephone pole and knocked out a fence before lumbering into a pasture and running over a horse.
State Police Trooper Jason Frances tells the Butler Eagle that the emergency call in Portersville came in Tuesday night for the accident off Route 488.
Police found the truck about 100 yards into the pasture.
The 56-year-old driver, Douglas Ebeling, was hospitalized with minor injuries. Police say charges against him are pending toxicology test results.
The horse was a 16-year-old black and white paint Tennessee Walker named Sierra. She died in the 11-acre field before owner Kenny Albert could get to her side.
Albert told the newspaper his family is devastated by Sierra's death. He says he rode her every Sunday at a state park.
"We'd really bonded, like as much as you would bond with a dog," he told the Eagle. "I'd ride by the pasture and call her name and she'd pick up her head. She was just a beautiful horse."