Horseback rider in ICU after alleged hit and run
Brian Walker | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 13 years, 11 months AGO
A 20-year-old Post Falls woman is in intensive care at Kootenai Medical Center this morning after she was riding horseback on Garwood Road north of Hayden Tuesday night and was allegedly struck by a truck heading in the same direction.
Lauren Johnson suffered a fractured skull and collar bone, said Becca Lobato, a friend who was riding alongside Johnson.
Lobato said Johnson was temporarily unconscious and doesn't remember the accident that occurred between 5 and 10 miles east of U.S. 95. at about 8:30 p.m.
"The horse did a somersault from what I saw, and Lauren was face down on the (paved) road," Lobato said, adding that Johnson and the horse were sideswiped.
Blondie, the buckskin quarterhorse Johnson was riding, sustained multiple wounds.
Lobato described the truck as black or dark gray, large and possibly with racks on top.
"I only saw the truck for a split second because my horse jumped," Lobato said. "They had to have known they hit them because it's a 1,200-pound horse."
Lobato estimates the truck was traveling at least 60 mph in the 40-mph zone. She hopes someone traveling in the opposite direction saw the truck.
"The truck came up on us so fast," Lobato said.
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