CHEROKEE COUNTY, Texas — Experiencing a car crash is a scary experience for many people. For Erin Allbright, it was like a scene from a horror movie.
“I wasn't texting, I wasn't intoxicated, I was doing everything right and it still happened,” Alrbight remembered. “You can't be too careful.”
Allbright was driving home to Rusk late Saturday night. She says she was about five miles outside of Troup on Highway 110 when a car was flashing its lights at her.
“I was trying to figure out why and as I’m thinking that just, bam, something came through my windshield and never saw it,” Albright explained.
Allbright says she struck a horse and went off the road, where her car almost went into a culvert. Instead, the vehicle came to a stop near a tree.
"I just kept pushing on the door and screaming for help,” Allbright said. “My horn wouldn't work, I couldn't find my phone and when I did find it, I didn’t have service."
She says after what felt like hours, but was most likely anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, she managed to get out of her car.
“I was able to push the door open in time to see another horse in the road and a car coming toward it,” Allbright explained. “I was able to flag that gentleman down, and he swerved to miss the horse and came back and helped me.”
Paramedics responded to the accident shortly after and Allbright was taken to an emergency room in Jacksonville. She says after being examined, doctors determined that she only suffered minor injuries.
"I had glass on my arms, my neck, my face, my scalp, it’s still there working its way out. I don't know how many thousands of dollars my hospital bill will be, but it's more than I can afford," Allrbight explained. “I'm without a car, I can't get to work, it's completely affected my livelihood, my stability with me and my family and I need the owners to come forward and do what's right."
Typically, after a car accident, people exchange information and authorities conduct an investigation to determine who is at fault. However, there is a different process for an accident involving livestock.
According to Texas Agriculture Code Section 143.021 – 143.082, the state of Texas is an open or free range state. This means livestock is not required to be fenced in and may roam freely. Texas counties can hold an election though to decide that county's stock laws, but if a county has not voted for these laws, it defaults to open range.
If stock laws are voted into place, the open range law is modified and marked U.S. or state highways are considered closed range. This means the person who owns, or is responsible for, livestock, such as a horse, mule, donkey, cow, bull, steer, hog, sheep or goat, may not knowingly let the animal roam unattended.
However, according to the Texas Association of Counties, on a farm-to-market road or county road, in the absence of a local stock law, there is no duty for a person who owns or is responsible for livestock to prevent it from roaming on those roadways.
According to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, Highway 110 in Cherokee County is considered a closed range road. As such, the owner of the animal could be held liable if Allbright and an attorney can prove the owner knew, or should have knowledge, that the horse was loose.
The sheriff's office says no one has come forward to claim the horses or report any missing. The Department of Public Safety is investigating the crash.