ASCENSION PARISH — A crash on the Sunshine Bridge last weekend has left a group of trail riders—Situated Riderz—from Montz, which is in St. Charles Parish, hurting and devasted from the loss of three of their beloved horses.
The group was traveling back from a trail ride in Napoleonville when that fateful crash occurred. One of the men in the group, Michael Parker, said they had been making their way toward home and were on the Sunshine Bridge in Donaldsonville when the unthinkable happened.
“Next thing you know, you hear like a race car come behind us. We don’t see no lights or nothing. We got hit. The trailer fell off the truck, hit the side of the bridge. The truck still lost control. We don’t know where we at. Nothing,” Parker recalled.
The three-vehicle crash happened on Saturday, Oct. 24 on Hwy. 70 at the Sunshine Bridge in Ascension Parish. State troopers say 43-year-old Carlo Phillips was driving with a suspended driver’s license and ran into the back of a trailer that was carrying four horses. He’s accused of walking away from the scene of the crash without assisting or waiting for law enforcement.
Phillips turned himself into State Police troopers on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
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Parker told UWK that he was in the front passenger seat at the time of the crash. “I had a cowboy hat on my head at the time when we got hit with the impact. It flew off my head. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ I hurried up and looked back. The trailer detached from the truck, hit the side of the bridge, and we still trying to gain control of the truck at the same time.”
Once they were able to stop, Parker said they ran to check the trailer. One of the horses ended up on the car that had hit the trailer, and was paralyzed, he said.
Parker ended up with a torn ligament in his foot and one of the other men, Jamari Taylor, had a mild concussion. Their truck was totaled.
Both men said adrenaline in the moment stopped them from feeling much pain from their injuries. They were worried about the horses and checking whether they were all OK.
The group had 11 horses before the crash. The trailer was transporting four horses at the time, three of which died as a result of their injuries in the crash, so the group has only eight now.
Parker’s horse, Suzy Q, was in the trailer with her legs caught in the gate rails. Their uncle’s horse, Sugar, was the only one to survive and had a mild leg injury. She was at the very front of the trailer.
Taylor said while looking at the crash scene and horses, he noticed the other driver, Carlo Phillips, in a hoodie backing away from the scene on foot. At the time, however, he was more concerned about checking all the horses and finding where his own horse was.
He finally spotted his horse, Leah Rae, moving but she was trapped at the car that hit the trailer. “Her back feet are stuck between the tires. Her front feet are stuck under the car. So I tried to move her feet, but I couldn’t bend them all the way.”
Taylor said once the fire department arrived at the scene, they were able to work to move the vehicle and free Leah Rae, but at that point, her back legs couldn’t move at all and she was paralyzed. “She was able to stand on her front two feet. But like I said, her back was broke, so her back two feet was not moving at all. So we laid her back down, and she took her last breath,” he explained.
Taylor said he’d only had Leah Rae for around six months, and he’d bought her from a woman who also had a close bond with the horse. Leah Rae was a graduation gift for Taylor’s sister. He was able to call his mom at the crash scene, who showed up with his sister.
“I just kept saying, “Ma, she gone. Ma she gone.” And then she finally gets there with my little sister. My little sister starts crying. So that, you know, that hurts me even more,” he said.
To these riders, their horses are not just animals, but family. Sundae was buried at their barn, because she passed away after getting home; the other two were taken away after the crash was cleared.
“We just really want the justice we deserve. It’s not right how it happened,” Parker said. “I mean, it’s not right. That’s our prized possession, these horses, like we come to this every day. It’s what we live for. It’s what we wake up to go to work for. Like we just want the justice.”
Taylor echoed the sentiment. “I just want justice. I’m not mad at him at all. I’m just hurt that I lost my horses. All I could do is think about the horses. I’m not too much worried about him. I just wish he would have stayed there; make sure we was all right, make sure help us a little bit,” Taylor said about Phillips.
Phillips is charged with hit and run, careless operation, and driving under suspension. The investigation is ongoing.
To help Situated Riderz with expenses, visit their GoFundMe.
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