ROSS COUNTY, Ohio — A highway in Ross County was closed for several hours after a car hit a herd of cattle late-Wednesday night.
The accident happened shortly after 10:30 p.m. along route 28 near Greenfield.
Troopers on the scene told the Guardian that a car plowed into the herd, which had gotten loose about a mile down the road. A passenger in the car was critically injured and flown from the scene; the driver was not hurt.
Greenfield Police Department assisted troopers by arriving at the scene as a first responder since the crash was only a few miles outside their village limits. Sergeant Bobby Brown with the Highway Patrol said that law enforcement were having trouble locating the owner of the herd and that they believed he may have been out-of-state, and was evidently unaware of the escape. Brown said troopers would call in the Ohio Department of Transportation to assist in cleaning up the carcasses.
In total, 8 cows were killed along the road. Brown said officers with Greenfield euthanized approximately three cows, while the others succumbed to injuries as a result of the crash. Troopers and a group of citizens located 10 more cows that had escaped and safely returned them to the nearby farm.
How the 18 cows escaped their enclosure was not immediately known. Troopers have downloaded the car’s onboard computer to assist them in figuring out exactly what happened and how a single car could strike eight cattle.
The names of those involved were not immediately released.
