ETNA GREEN – A 15-year-old boy suffered a minor head injury and his horse was killed when the buggy he was operating was jarred after the horse pulling it galloped into the path of an oncoming truck midday Monday in rural Etna Green.
Emergency personnel were called around 1:45 p.m. Monday to CR 900W, near CR 700N, Etna Green, where a pickup truck had hit a horse pulling a buggy and injured its teen operator.
Crews arrived to find 15-year-old Michael Stutzman, of 6701 N. CR 900W, Etna Green, with a contusion to his head.
According to a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department crash report, investigators learned that a horse-drawn buggy operated by Stutzman was pulling from a driveway onto CR 900W when Stutzman paused to see if his sister was coming, but the horse pulled ahead and into the path of a southbound 2000 Ford F250 driven by Jason A. Lemler, 28, of 429 N. Pearl St., Etna Green. The pickup broadsided the horse, killing it.
Stutzman told police “the horse went out into the roadway on its own because that is the way they usually go,” the report said. He said he could not get the horse stopped, the report said.
Stutzman was not treated for the head contusion. Lemler was not hurt.
Investigators estimated the collision resulted in $5,000 to $10,000 in damage, the report said.
