Two horses hit and killed on I-5

Josh Greengard, spokesman for the CHP office in Newhall, said he did not know if the owners of the horses had been contacted, but since about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, officers had been contacting ranches in the surrounding area to notify them.

The CHP’s initial report stated that the 911 call came in at 8:59 p.m. because “three horses were running in the lanes,” according to CHP Officer Garcia, who declined to give his first name. The first location was the westbound lane of Interstate 210, which merges with the northbound lane of Interstate 5.

Los Angeles Fire Department officials said they were called to a collision between a car and a horse at 9:08 p.m. and reported that a car had collided with a horse, according to Nicholas Prange of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

One person was taken to hospital, but there is no information on the severity of the patient’s injuries.

Several Newhall CHP officers responded to the interstate a minute later, near the transition to the northbound lanes of Interstate 5, and learned that a second horse had also been struck, Greengard said.

Officials are looking into all possibilities, but there is no evidence or indication that the animals came from a vehicle on the highway, Greengard said. There are several horse farms in the area, he added.

According to Greengard, one of the dead horses was in the car pool lane and the other was found between the far right lanes on the north side of Interstate 5 near the Balboa Boulevard exit.

Additional reports described Good Samaritans restraining a runaway horse from the right shoulder of Interstate 5 and capturing it south of the intersection with Highway 14, Greengard said.

According to Garcia, a SIGAlert was issued in response to the initial investigation.