A man trying to help get horses off a dark road in Butler County was hit by a vehicle and died. The victim has been identified as 61-year-old John Sanford of rural Douglass.
The Butler County Sheriff’s Office says the incident started after 11:30 p.m. Thursday when 911 dispatchers sent a deputy to check on the report of horses in the roadway on Southwest 210th Street near Southwest Hopkins Switch Road in rural Douglass.
While the deputy was on the way, dispatchers called potential horse owners. They did not find the owner, but word spread to Sanford and his wife.
They went to the area to see if the horses belonged to them. The horses were not theirs. However, Sanford began to help corral the loose horses.
A car west-bound on Southwest 210th Street hit Sanford, who died at the scene.
The sheriff’s office said the driver might have been blinded by bright lights from a vehicle parked on the side of the road.