A trail ride home from Napoleonville ended in heartbreak last Saturday night when a crash on the Sunshine Bridge killed three horses and left a fourth injured, with the driver who caused it running away on foot. The Louisiana riding group Situated Riderz says no one has been arrested, and the investigation is still open.
The crash happened around 9 p.m. on Oct. 24 as Situated Riderz crossed the Sunshine Bridge while returning home from a day of riding in Napoleonville, according to WBRZ. Anthony Carter, who founded Situated Riderz, said two horses were killed on the bridge itself, and a third died several hours later. A fourth horse survived.
Carter described arriving to a scene where the horse trailer's gate had been torn open by the force of the impact. “We see one horse about ten feet away, by a car, stuck under a car. The gate of the trailer just flew open,” he said, per the station's report.
Driver Ran Toward Donaldsonville, Group Says
Situated Riderz said the driver responsible for the crash abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot, running down the eastbound lane of the Sunshine Bridge toward Donaldsonville. Michael Parker, a member of the group who owned one of the horses that died, recalled the chaos of the moment. “A person got out of the car and ran, leaving them with two or three dead horses,” Parker said, calling the crash devastating.
Parker, who keeps many of the group's horses in a barn in Montz, said the loss cuts deep because of the time riders invest in their animals. He said forming a bond with these animals makes letting go difficult, a sentiment echoed by other members of the close-knit riding community.
The St. James Parish Sheriff's Office said its deputies responded to the scene, and the crash shut down the eastbound lane of the bridge for hours. The sheriff's office later posted that the Sunshine Bridge was open again, though the exact time traffic resumed was not specified in that message, which was shared through local alerts from the agency.
Investigation Remains Open, No Arrests Made
Louisiana State Police is handling the crash investigation, per the sheriff's office, and the agency confirmed it is still investigating. As of the station's report, no arrests had been made, and Situated Riderz is asking anyone with information about the car or the driver to come forward.
Louisiana law includes a hit-and-run statute that calls for five to 20 years of imprisonment, with or without hard labor, when a crash causes death or serious bodily injury as a direct result of the accident, according to the Louisiana State Legislature. That provision's applicability to this particular crash has not been established.
Horse trailer wrecks involving serious loss of life are not unique to south Louisiana. Earlier this month, three horses were killed and a fourth injured when a driver towing a trailer lost control and struck a rock wall on Highway 1 in southeast British Columbia, according to the CBC. Those horses were being hauled from Manitoba and Alberta to a national dressage championship in Langley, and the driver in that case received a $109 ticket for failing to keep right. Equestrian Canada later extended mental health support and organized a fundraiser for those affected.
Group Focused on Recovery
Back in St. James Parish, Carter said the group is focusing on recovery and rebuilding after the loss. He urged fellow riders to stay strong as they regroup from the crash that struck at the heart of their close community of horse owners based out of Montz.
For now, the search for the driver continues alongside the ongoing investigation. Situated Riderz has made clear that anyone with information about the vehicle or the person behind the wheel should come forward as authorities work to determine what happened on the bridge that night.
