# Update on double decker horse accident



## Sandy S. (Sep 23, 2004)

This information was emailed to me.

Animal Protection Coalition and Indiana Horse Rescue have received many e-mails regarding the double deck semi trailer accident in Dearborn County that killed 21 horses. John Holland of Virginia has put together a wonderful report which may answer many of your questions.

At the request of Joell Girone of WLWT Television (www.channelcincinnati.com), Anthony Caldwell, President of Animal Protection Coalition flew to Cincinnati, OH to be interviewed regarding this accident and to answer more questions regarding horses going to slaughter. We were able to supply them with video from the "Slaughterhouse Ride" story from WISH-TV and WANE-TV along with the horse slaughter video from the Humane Farming Association. Joell Girone is continuing to research the destiny of these horses and the outcome of the accident.

Facts about the terrible accident with the double deck trailer

Prepared by: John Holland, Team Red Horse

Note: This file is a work in progress and several earlier

versions that were based on press accounts showed significantly

different numbers of horses killed and other facts.

I believe this to be the most accurate account of the accident

at this time (9/22/04). Note that the number of equines killed was

originally estimated at 30 and is now known to have been 21.

Many of the horses were young, and four of the animals were

mules according to first hand accounts.

The accident occurred Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 15th on Indiana

State Rt. 1, just north of Lawrenceburg and one half mile from the

Greendale City limits. The vehicle came around a turn and slid off

the roadway striking a guardrail, then going over a slight embankment

the vehicle fell over on its side and hit a utility pole breaking

the pole. A small fire was started by the downed wires.

Dearborn police stated that big rigs often used the route to avoid

the scales on the I-74, I-275 interstates if they were overweight.

The reports of the various media outlets varied widely on the number

of horses that died at the scene, the number euthanized, and the even

the total number. I therefore called Dr. Nenni to clarify them. The

following facts are directly from my telephone interviews with Dr.

Nenni. I told him that I was researching facts and would try to

discriminate then as widely as possible so as to reduce misinformation

and speculation, and to attempt to minimize the number of people

bothering him. He was extremely responsive and helpful. After our

initial conversation he called me back with further information.

According to Dr. Nenni he euthanized 12 horses when he arrived

(not the 6 reported by the press). He indicated that the reporter

who had said the owner had told him to euthanize any horses that

â€œcould not go onâ€ had misunderstood his meaning. By â€œgoing onâ€

he meant horses that had no reasonable chance for survival. No

horses were euthanized that had a reasonably chance of survival,

he said. One horse was given to the property owner where the

accident occurred in payment of damages. The Standard Fertilizer

Company reported removing 21 dead horses. The remaining 30 horses

continued to the Ramey farm.

Therefore the total number of horses that died was 21, and the

total number that survived was about 31, for a grand total of 52.

Dr. Nenni stated some of the misestimates of the number killed

came from the fact that most of the horses shown laying about

the pasture in press photos were not the dead, but rather the

survivors who laid down after the stress of the accident.

Dr. Nenni further told me that he did not check Coggins papers

(that was not his function there), but that he established

contact with the Kentucky State veterinarian waiting at the

Ramey farm and that he was told they checked all the appropriate

paperwork. He said all horses arrived in good shape. Dr. Nenni

said he did check some of the bills of sale and that most of the

horses he checked were registered horses including paints and

quarter horses. The Kentucky State veterinarian told Dr. Nenni

that all of the horses came from legal auctions in the North.

<End of information from Dr. Nenni>

According to first hand accounts, some of the injured horses

were made to wait 1 to 1 Â½ hours. This has been attributed to

the fact that most veterinarians were away from the area at

a conference, leaving Dr. Nenni and his staff the only ones

at the scene.

Also according to first hand accounts, several people in the

area had guns and wanted to shoot the horses but the Sheriff

would not allow it and threatened to handcuff anyone with a

gun to the trees!

According to a first hand report, "In a forward compartment

there were several horses all believed to be dead (including a

2 month old baby <foal>). When using the crane to get the trailer

up there was a bunch of banging and kicking. They set it down

and went in and found a mule in the middle of a bunch of dead

horses without a scratch." <End of first hand report>

The driver and passengers were treated and released.

The surviving horses were moved to a makeshift coral at the

residence of Chris and Michelle Belshawl, 19534 Whitaker Lane

until they calmed down. The remaining horses, except for a

red roan that was given to the property owner for damages, were

then reloaded and continued to their destination which the owner

said was the Ramey Ranch only 160 miles away in Flemingsburg, KY.

The horses were reported to have bills of sale showing most

had sold in the 500.00 range. None of the horses were tagged

for slaughter. If their destination was legal slaughter these tags would

have been required.

A member of our them interviewed one of the state officials

who was present at the accident. According to this official, "Horses

on the trailer were for the most part, not nice looking horses. Most

of the horses were young, and they traveled on the bottom. [This

agrees with Dr. Nenni's account]. The older, or taller horses traveled

on top. The top of the entire trailer was shorn off. There were four mules."

The owner of the horses was Jodi Ramey of Flemingsburg Kentucky who

was a passenger in the truck and claimed the horses were bought at

auction in Minnesota to be sold as trail and riding. The Ramey's are

members of the Kentucky Cattlemen's Assoc.

There was another tractor trailer, also commissioned by Ramey traveling in

front of the one that crashed. It has not been determined if it was also a

double decker. Reportedly, Jodi Ramey radioed this truck and instructed

it not to come back to the scene and help, but rather to keep going to

Kentucky.

Channel 5 News out of Cincinnati visited the Ramey farm but

was stonewalled.

The driver was Kristopher Ramey. He was sited for not having

a log book. There was a second passenger in the truck.

The tractor trailer was reported to be owned by the Fleming

Meat Packing Co. of Flemingsburg KY. The packing company

(slaughter house) is listed as being "Multi-species". A

friend of the Rameyâ€™s says that the Ramey cattle operations

do business with the packing company.

Fleming County Packing Co.

233 Railroad St.

Flemingsburg, KY 41041

(606) 845-1011

There is not yet any established relationship between the

Rameys and the meat packing company other than their tractor

was pulling the trailer and the fact that the Ramey cattle

business sold cattle to the packing company (private email

from acquaintance of Rameyâ€™s).

Horse slaughter is illegal in Kentucky so if the Fleming

County Packing Company was the intended destination of

these horses it would have been against state law.

None of the horses were wearing the tags required for slaughter

bound horses.

It has not been established whether the Rameys resell to

slaughter houses like Cavel.

Several people have confirmed that the Rameys do buy horses

regularly at Sugar Creek and other auctions, and at least one

person confirms having bought a saddle horse from them.

According to one source â€œJodi and his dad buy horses from

up north and hauls them to the auctions all the way down to

Tennessee. He goes non stop through the auctions buying

riding horses cheap then re-sells them. I have know Jodi

for a long time, didn't know that that the tractor/trailer

his dad drove was hauling horses though. I have only seen

Jodi pull through the auctions with a big gooseneck stock

trailer. â€

In 2003 the Ramey Trucking Company had a similar accident,

but it is not known if it is the same Ramey family, but

the extended Ramey family does do a lot of professional

hauling according to acquaintances. Here is the report

from the 2003 accident:

<<Thirty cows died when the tractor-trailer carrying them

crashed Saturday morning on the ramp from northbound

Interstate 75 to westbound Interstate 275. Erlanger police

closed the ramp for about 81/2 hours after Oakley Cooper,

27, of Flemingsburg, lost control of a tractor-trailer

owned by Ramey Trucking of Flemingsburg at 2:25 a.m.

Police said the trailer broke lose from the truck and

flipped onto its right side, skidding for more than 350

feet and striking a light pole. >> <End of information

about similar accident>

The veterinarian at the horse trailer accident site was:

Dr. John Nenni

Bright Vet Clinic

The person who will determine if charges are filed is:

Sally Blankenship

Dearborn County Courthouse

215 W. High St

Lawrenceburg, IN 47025

[email protected]

(812) 537-8884 phone

(812) 537-4295 fax - corrected from earlier post

Law Enforcement Jurisdiction:

Dearborn County Sheriff

1-800-543-1149.

301 W. High St

Lawrenceburg, Indiana 47025

The investigating officer was:

Dearborn County Sheriff

Deputy Allen Holdcraft assisted Deputy William Wagner

Also responding to the scene were:

Greendale EMS

Greendale Fire Dept.

Greendale Police Dept.

Indiana Department of Transportation

Indiana State Police DOT Enforcement

Miller York Fire Dept.

Source documents

http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/3733772/detail.html

http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/3738255/detail.html

http://www.dearborncounty.org/sheriff/docu.../horsecrash.pdf

http://www.dearborncounty.org/sheriff/pressrelease4.htm

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/09/15/horses_late.html

http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=5224

http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2...f0917-3370.html

Personal email from two acquaintances

Email accounts from persons at the scene

Two telephone interviews with Dr. Nenni

Telephone interview with Official at scene by Anne Russek

Post script:

Why has this story received such keen attention from the

horse community? There has been wild speculation about

the destiny (as opposed to destination) of these horses,

because of the following facts.

1) It is virtually unheard of for non-slaughter bound horses

to be hauled in double deck cattle trailers.

2) The lack of a required log book. This book would

have made it possible to trace the movement of the truck

and the weight of its load.

3) The fact that the tractor was owned by a slaughter house

in a state where horse slaughter is illegal.

4) The fact that the Ramey's chose not to address the

accident publicly (this is probably the major issue).

5) The fact that the truck appeared to be trying to avoid

the scales.

6) The fact that the second truck was not called back to

the scene to help.

7) The fact that the Jodi Ramey claimed they were to be

resold as saddle horses, but there were four mules in

the shipment and many horses were too young to be used

for that purpose in the near term.

8) The purchase range of the horses is in the slaughter range.

9) The fact that persons calling and offering to buy the

survivors are being ignored.

10) The present location of the horses is not known.

None of the above facts proves anything beyond the

explanation given by Jodi Ramey, but they all need to

be answered before the issue will be put to rest.

If you have any questions regarding this accident please send them to [email protected] We are working with all our resources to get the facts.

Animal Protection Coalition

(765) 659-5209

http://www.animalprotectioncoalition.org

http://www.esfrescue.com


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