JEFFERSON – A report of a reckless horse and buggy Jan. 2 in New Lyme Township ended with a rescue of the horse from a ravine.
According to an Ashtabula County Sheriff’s report, a deputy was dispatched for the report of the reckless horse and buggy along U.S. Route 6 near Crosby Cook Road. He saw a horse and buggy going south on State Route 46 with no lights or flashers operating.
The deputy activated his lights and “yelped” his siren to get the buggy to stop, but the horse and buggy continued. He could not see if anyone was inside the buggy.
“I continued driving South on SR 46 as the buggy and horse continued erratically, crossing into the opposite lane and veering back and forth across the roadway,” the deputy wrote in the report.
Then, at State Route 46 and Way Road, the horse and buggy crashed and ended up on their side. The horse got up with the buggy still attached and quickly took off south on State Route 46, according to the report.
There were several oncoming cars and another deputy, who was assisting, got in front of the horse and buggy to alert oncoming drivers, who yielded, the report states. When the assisting deputy passed the buggy, he could see that it wasn’t occupied and the horse and buggy were “runaway.”
At the intersection of State Route 46 and Dodgeville Road, the assisting deputy diverted the horse and buggy westbound on Dodgeville Road, the report states.
“There were more oncoming cars which yielded as the runaway horse and buggy approached,” the report reads.
At an address in the 1400 block of Dodgeville Road, the horse and buggy struck the rear of the assisting deputy’s cruiser and diverted North onto private property. The assisting deputy’s patrol cruiser’s rear window shattered.
The two deputies ran after the horse and buggy, and the horse fell into a deep, wooded ravine, the report states. The buggy appeared to be stuck in mud. Meanwhile, the assisting deputy fell into a pond covered by snow and ice. The other deputy helped him out of the water. Drenched from his vest down, the assisting deputy went to his car to warm up, the report states.
According to the report, a resident in the 1400 block of Dodgeville Road came out and offered to help, saying she grew up around horses.
She helped calm the horse down and retrieved a lead that she tied to the horse, the report states. She disconnected the buggy from the horse. The report states the buggy was stuck in the water and mud.
The Dodgeville Road resident and the first deputy then led the horse out of the ravine. South Central Ambulance District (SCAD) paramedics arrived on the scene and asked who needed help.
They opened the car door of the assisting deputy who fell into the pond and found him with eyes closed and complaining that he could not breathe or feel his legs, the report states. He was pulled out of his cruiser and onto a stretcher and taken to ARMC for evaluation for possible hypothermia.
According to the report, the owner of the horse and buggy arrived and said he had lost his horse.
“He said it ran from home and by the time he got his other horse to go after it, he lost sight,” the report reads.
The man said he normally kept the horse tied up, but it was not tied up that day.
