What happened on this Thurston County road Nov. 13, 2021?
Some in the Thurston County horse community have been wondering for weeks what happened the evening of Nov. 13 on Mima Road Southwest in south Thurston County.
Information about the incident was initially hard to come by, but after The Olympian talked to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, the state Department of Corrections, an interested party, an area resident and two attorneys, a picture has finally emerged of a wreck that killed a horse, injured two more and knocked three horseback riders to the ground.
About 5:15 p.m. Nov. 13, the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the 13300 block of Mima Road Southwest. That’s where a state Department of Corrections vehicle had crashed into a horse and pushed it into two other horses.
The vehicle and the horses were headed north at the time, said Sgt. Chris Packard, citing a report of the crash.
The driver had tried to go around the horses, which were on the side of the road, but the first horse “turns out in the road and is struck by the vehicle,” Packard said.
That horse was trailing two more being ridden abreast of each other. The speed limit on Mima Road Southwest is 50 miles per hour.
Three riders — two women in their 30s and a man in his 50s — were knocked to the ground. One woman’s arm and wrist were injured and she also had a potential concussion, he said. The other woman’s face was cut and the man’s back was injured, Packard said.
The driver was not cited. He declined to comment to The Olympian, deferring comment instead to the state Department of Corrections, his employer.
“We express our concern for the safety and well-being of everyone affected,” DOC media relations manager Tobby Hatley said in an email. “In an occurrence like this, local law enforcement handles any response, and in this case Thurston County Sheriff’s Office was the responding agency.”
The horse hit by the vehicle died at the scene. Thurston County Animal Services might respond to the death of a domestic animal, but livestock is typically the responsibility of the owner, Packard said.
A 911 call log that was forwarded to The Olympian shows the dead horse was still by the side of the road after 9 p.m., although it appears one of the riders was connected to an area property owner and that arrangements were made to remove the dead horse.
The two other horses, with saddles and gear still attached, ran off.
About two miles away, Terry Fisher was just leaving his house and pulling onto Bordeaux Road when the two horses went running by, pursued by a couple of people trying to stop them.
“They knew what to do and I helped them,” he said, adding that the two horses were ultimately tied to a gate on his property before they were recovered. He said the horses were scared and had suffered nicks and cuts.
Since the crash, one of the women in her 30s and the man in his 50s have sought legal help. The Olympian had a brief conversation with the woman, but her attorney spoke on her behalf.
The two are represented by Craig Swapp & Associates, which does business in Washington state through its office in Spokane. Attorneys Colton Schneider and R.J. Ermola spoke to The Olympian.
They say their clients went trail riding that day, then took Mima Road Southwest to get back to a horse trailer and equipment at a nearby campsite.
As they road along Mima Road, several cars passed them successfully before they were struck from behind by the horse hit by the state Department of Corrections vehicle.
Attorneys Schneider and Ermola are waiting on more information. “There’s a lot to be discovered,” Schneider said. “What occurred and what led to this incident.”
His clients appear to have a long way to go to recover from their injuries, he said.
“We’re just hopeful to get them back to the things they were doing prior to the incident,” he said.
This story was originally published January 9, 2022 at 5:45 AM.
