Police trail runaway horse on highway

NORTH LAWRENCE, Ohio, July 6 (UPI) -- Police in Ohio said a stretch of highway was closed while officers chased a runaway horse for about 8 miles.

Lawrence Township Police Officer David Brown said he and another officer responded Saturday to a call about a loose horse on Route 21 and police closed the road while they chased the 7-year-old Arabian horse, named Java, WJW-TV, Cleveland, reported Tuesday.

"Being that it's an animal, we have no way to predict what it is going to do or which way it is going to run. If it runs into a car, and strikes it, people could be seriously hurt," Brown said.

"After about an 8-mile run on 21, the horse was finally caught at Four Corners," he said.

Police Chief Mark Brink said the situation was unusual.

"This horse was not going to listen to anybody. It was on a dead run," Police Chief Mark Brink said. "We are used to calls of animals, we are a rural police department. But calls of horses running loose on the highway? That's a first."

Brink said Java's owners were not cited.