Driver of horse carriage run over by hit-and-run driver in downtown St. Louis

ST. LOUIS • A female driver of a horse and carriage was hurt after being run over by a minivan that fled the scene in the 500 block of North Broadway in downtown St. Louis Friday evening.

The driver suffered a dislocated and broken arm, a broken nose, and injuries to her legs. Police said her condition was listed as serious.

The horse, Maverick, suffered some scratches and was spooked, and the carriage, a “Cinderella-style” one, was totaled, said Jerry Kirk, owner of the carriage company, Brookdale Farms.

“We've never had anything like this happen,” he said. The business has been operating since the late 1980s.

The incident happened at about 5 p.m. Kirk said the driver of the minivan rear-ended the carriage,  knocking off the driver and shoving the carriage into the back of the horse. The minivan then ran over the woman and kept going, Kirk said. He said a witness told him a bystander was able to jump on the hood of the minivan and stayed on it for about two blocks before the van continued to drive away.

After police got a description of the vehicle, they found it in the 2300 block of Arsenal Street in the Benton Park neighborhood and the driver, 76, was arrested. Kirk said police used a hand print from the bystander who got on the hood to connect the minivan to the incident.

Kirk said the carriage driver, 24, has been working for the company for about five years and does a great job.

“It's her full-time job, this is what she does," he said. "She has her own horse, one particular horse she drives, one particular carriage.”