The rescue began around 7:30 a.m. early Monday, July 8, when Highway Patrol Officer Matthew Siesto responded to multiple 911 calls reporting a horse running on westbound Sunrise Highway between exits 57 and 56 in Brookhaven, said the Suffolk County Police.
The horse, Oppie, had escaped from Rockaby Farms, located in Brookhaven after a tree fell and damaged the horse’s pen.
The officer was flagged down by the horse’s caretaker Erin Easop who got into the patrol vehicle. They found Oppie in the westbound median and then started traveling in the eastbound median.
Suffolk County Deputy Sheriff Patrice Silvestri was on the eastbound side and was able to grab the horse, police said.
The officers secured the 30-year-old thoroughbred horse with a halter and walked him back to the farm.
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