Motorist, horse killed in collision on 15 Freeway in Norco

LOCATION: I15 N So / Limonite Ave Exit 103 AREA/CITY: Norco DETAILS: California Highway Patrol, Riverside Office and Cal Fire, Riverside County responded to a horse trailer on the freeway that had lost a horse and the horse was running in lanes. Multiple reports were coming in of the horse in lanes and a man in lanes trying to catch the horse, soon after a car hit the horse killing it. The driver of the car that hit the horse was transported to a local area hospital with unknown injuries. The passenger of the car that hit the horse was pronounced deceased at the scene by firefighter paramedics. At this time, CHP officers are looking for the driver of the horse trailer, at this time he has left the scene.
California Highway Patrol and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection responded to an incident involving a horse trailer early Sunday on the freeway in Norco. (ONSCENE.TV)

A motorist and a horse were killed in a collision on the 15 Freeway in Norco early Sunday, a fire official said.

The crash occurred just after 2 a.m. on the northbound side of the freeway near the Sixth Street on-ramp, where a motorist had struck the horse, according to Maggie Cline De La Rosa, a spokeswoman with the Riverside County Fire Department.

One person in the car was pronounced dead at the scene, and another person was hospitalized with minor injuries, Cline De La Rosa said.

"The horse was also a fatality, unfortunately," she said.

It remained unclear how the horse ended up on the freeway, Cline De La Rosa said, adding that the incident is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol.

Officials at the CHP's San Bernardino office did not immediately respond to a request for information.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.