What started as a couple of runaway horses loose in a Caledonia neighborhood turned into a tense scene on the railroad tracks Tuesday morning, when a northbound Amtrak train struck one of the animals. Neighbors pulled out their phones as the two horses trotted through a backyard and onto the rails. The brown horse that was hit was later euthanized by a local veterinarian, while the white horse was eventually corralled to safety.
According to CBS58, Caledonia police say officers and the horses’ owners first tried to corral the pair after they were spotted near Prairie Crossing Drive and Racine County H. Instead of cooperating, the animals took off west along the tracks. Officers contacted train companies and asked that rail traffic be stopped until the horses could be guided away, but a northbound Amtrak train could not halt in time and struck the brown horse. A veterinarian from the Sturtevant area was called in and humanely euthanized the injured animal.
Neighbor Brianna Lock’s video shows the two horses casually trotting through her backyard just moments before they made their way onto the tracks. In a statement confirming the incident, the Caledonia Police Department said that “the second horse was uninjured” and that “the train operation was not affected,” according to WTMJ.
Where it happened
Officials placed the incident in the area around Prairie Crossing Drive and Racine County H, west of where the horses were initially spotted. No passengers aboard the Amtrak train were reported injured, and crews cleared the scene without disrupting regular operations, as first reported by CBS58.
Neighbors' footage and next steps
The footage, including Lock’s video and a widely shared screen grab credited to Mike Locke on Facebook, quickly made the rounds online after the collision. Beyond confirming the basic timeline and outcome, officials have released few additional details about the incident, according to WTMJ.
