Driver, 4 Animals Die in Multiple Car Pile-Ups : 7 Stray Horses Cause Havoc on Highway

Seven riderless horses galloped onto a highway today, causing multiple crashes that killed one person and snarled morning rush-hour traffic for miles, state police said. One horse was killed by a vehicle and three others had to be destroyed.

The driver of one car, who was not identified, was killed after his car struck one or two of the horses and crashed, police said. A passenger in the car, Donald Felix, 50, of Stratford, was treated at Milford Hospital.

The horses roamed away from a nearby riding academy and strayed onto the Wilbur Cross Parkway, where the panicked animals raced southbound in the northbound lanes, police said.

“They broke out sometime during the night, broke out one of the side fences,” said a stable worker who declined to identify himself.

Startled commuters’s cars collided with the horses, and one of the animals was killed. Three others had to be shot by police because of injuries from collisions, police said.

The stable worker said the surviving three animals were rounded up by about 7 a.m.

The highway was closed in both directions for about two hours.