Runaway horse reunited with owner after traffic adventure in Philly
STRAWBERRY MANSION (WPVI) -- A runaway horse has been reunited with its owner after straying far from its stable in Strawberry Mansion and shutting down an intersection Friday morning in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia.
Chopper 6 HD was overhead and the Action Cam on the ground as the 7-year-old horse was returned to its stable at the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club.
"I am very thankful to the police," said one of the horse's owners, Stephfon Tolbert. "Very thankful. Thank you."
The resolution came more than an hour and a half after the horse named Proud Queen, also known as Big Momma, escaped.
It happened when Lonnie Sullivan, who also owns a horse there, was opening the door to the stable.
"She bumped me and knocked me down," he said.
That was at 7 a.m. Sullivan tried to chase the animal on a bike, but the horse was faster.
"I rode that bike, like... I have never rode a bike like that," Sullivan told Action News. "It was fast."
Proud Momma took off across the city. An Action News viewer captured the wild scene on SnapChat as the horse passed by the Philadelphia Art Muesum.
Witnesses were in awe of what they were seeing.
"All of us enjoyed it, actually," said Thomas Aponte of North Philadelphia. "I told my boss, 'Look, there is a runaway horse outside!' He was like, 'No!' I said, 'Look out the window!' He looked and saw the police cars. It just made my day."
The horse finally ended up at Richmond Street and Girard Avenue in Port Richmond.
Video from Sky 6 HD, which aired live on Action News and was streamed live on the Action News Facebook page, showed police calming the horse after shutting down the intersection to all traffic at 7:30 a.m.
The horse appeared to be calm and in good health, though far from home.
Police were eventually able to contact Tolbert by phone.
"I was asleep," he told Action News. "And I woke up to people calling me, saying there was a loose horse, and automatically I assumed it was mine because they wouldn't have been calling me."
A Philadelphia Police horse trailer was brought in, and officers led the animal away from the intersection and into the carrier shortly around 7:35 a.m.
Richmond Street was re-opened to traffic a short time later.
Chopper 6 HD arrived over the scene and followed the police trailer.
Thousands watched live on the Action News Facebook page as the trailer made its way to the Philadelphia Art Museum area.
That's where the police met up with someone from the riding club.
The caravan, which by this time included the Action News van, then proceeded back to Fletcher Street.
Big Momma was finally home.
Her recent escape put her in the spotlight, but Big Momma has a bigger story. Another one of her owners, Rasul Bey, tells Action News she is a rescue horse.
"They would have killed her. They actually have a slaughterhouse and they would have sent her to the killers, is what we call them. But we saved her and gave her a better life and now she has a good home," Bey said.
"She had a career before, but we just do stuff with her," said Tolbert. "Kids ride her."
And those kids, no doubt, will be thankful Big Momma made it home safe and sound after her big adventure.
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