Passenger killed when horse smashes through windshield during California highway crashes

NORCO, Calif. — The passenger in a car was killed when a horse smashed through the windshield during a series of crashes on a Southern California interstate over the weekend, authorities said.

The first collision occurred about 2 a.m. Sunday when a Toyota Tacoma towing a horse trailer veered to the right and struck a guardrail on northbound Interstate 15 near Norco, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The trailer split open, sending the horse onto the freeway. Then a semitractor-trailer smashed into the horse trailer.

The horse made it to the median but then tried to cross the interstate, when it was clipped by a black Honda Accord, highway patrol Officer Javier Navarro told the Southern California News Group.

Next, a gray Honda Accord struck the horse, which smashed through the car's windshield, Navarro said. The passenger, a 25-year-old man in the front seat, was killed. The horse also died.

The Honda's driver, a 27-year-old man, suffered minor injuries, the news group reported.

No one has been arrested, Navarro said Monday. What caused the Toyota towing the horse trailer to hit the guardrail is under investigation, he said.