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Horse trailer floor collapses, highway blocked for hours

by Mondee Tilley

8 days ago | 1318 views | 1 | 5 | |

LOWGAP — One horse had to be put down after bottom fell out of the trailer it and four other horses were riding in.

The incident happened at N.C. 18 and N.C. 89 at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, according to Skull Camp Volunteer Fire Department Chief Josh Moose.

“Once we got there, we found a truck and a horse trailer that was coming off of N.C. 18 turning onto N.C. 89 when the bottom of the horse trailer broke through and one or two of the horses’ legs fell through. They didn’t know right away that it had happened. So they don’t know how far they had driven like that,” said Moose.

He said there were five horses, two donkeys and one sheep in the trailer. He said one horse was trapped by the legs between the road and the bottom on the trailer and was unable to get up. The horse had to be euthanized at the scene.

He said Surry County Animal Control was called to the scene to remove the animals from the roadway.

Moose said both highways were shut down for 30 minutes and N.C. 18 was closed for more than two hours.

He said the three men in the truck had left a stock yard sale in Virginia and were headed toward Mount Airy at the time of the incident.

Moose said in his opinion the medium-sized horse trailer was overloaded, which caused that accident.

Trooper Kevin Johnson with the N.C. State Highway Patrol charged Jose Rodriguez Flores, of 366 Forest Oaks Drive, Dobson with no registration, no insurance and fictitious tags. Johnson called Trooper Bobby Miller with the Motor Carrier Division who charged Flores with $150 in civil fees for no lights on the trailer and having unsecured load. The Motor Carrier Division is in charge of inspecting trailers.

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