18 cattle die after crash on Interstate
A total of 18 cattle were killed Thursday morning when a 2009 Peterbuilt tractor-trailer tipped onto its side on Interstate 64.
According to a crash report from the Indiana State Police, John Forester, 36, of Jonesboro, Tenn., was driving the semi westbound on I-64. At the 101-mile marker, Forester allegedly fell asleep and drove off of the roadway into the median, which resulted in the semi and trailer overturning, releasing some of the 88 cattle onto the roadway.
Shortly after this crash, another westbound semi crashed into one of the escaped cows that was in the roadway. The Harrison County Sheriff’s Department worked that crash, involving Bobby E. Barnett, 53, of Republic, Mo., who was not injured.
The driver of the overturned semi, and his co-driver, Dusty Arnold, 36, of Kingsport, Tenn., were transported to University Hospital in Louisville with non-life-threatening injuries.
Some of the escaped cattle were initially unable to be captured, Harrison County Animal Control Officer Bruce LaHue said. The last of the cows were captured at 3:43 p.m. Sunday.
LaHue praised everyone who helped at the scene, including Hauswald Farms, which picked up and stored the cattle, Shaffer’s Towing, Virginia L. Wiseman, Sanders Farms, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Dept. and Dispatch and the Indiana State Police.
Initially, LaHue said, meat from the deceased cows was going to be processed and donated to local food pantries. He was later contacted by the Indiana State Board of Health and ordered that all meat was to be destroyed.
‘The processing plant told me that they had to enter the facility healthy and alive; they had to be killed there,’ LaHue said, adding that he’s trying to get state guidelines so he knows how to handle the situation should it come up again in the future. ‘We need to know so we can write it into plan so, if it happens again, we can salvage anything possible, even if it’s just a contact number to contact for a case-by-case approval. I will play by the rules. I just need to know what they are.’
