An Oregon rodeo had a few moments of panic Saturday night as a massive bull leaped a fence, tore through a packed capacity 5,500-seat arena and ran through the concession grounds before it was captured.
Four people were injured. Two were grazed by the bull, one was flipped in the air by the bull and a Deschutes County sergeant was injured, according to KOIN-TV.
CBS reported that the person most seriously injured was released from the hospital in time to participate in the rodeo’s Sunday breakfast. All others were also released.
Danielle Smithers was at Sisters Rodeo when she caught the bull leaping the fence on her cell phone.
“I capture him completely going over the gate and disappearing,” she said. “Then there’s this huge pause in the zone he came out of. It seems like people go right back to waving their lights, almost like they’re not really sure what to do.”
a bull escaped a rodeo in oregon and the video of it is cinema pic.twitter.com/dLX8UphLze
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) June 9, 2024
“I know this is one of those circumstances where you step into a situation like that, whether it be an amusement park or a rodeo or a zoo, for that matter. You’re always accepting the risk,” she said.
“Everybody behind me was just yelling and everybody was just trying to get out of the way,” rodeo volunteer Paige Chamberlain said, according to KTVZ-TV.
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After escaping the arena, the bull plowed through a concession area, tossing one person into the air.
“The bull ragdolled the individual thrusting her head over heels into the air twice,” a spectator said, according to Central Oregon Daily.
Pure chaos as a bull escaped and made its way through the rodeo grounds in Sisters, Oregon. Prayers to alll that were injured. pic.twitter.com/UlUUkgq5oH
— sj.💎 (@shawnamj_) June 9, 2024
Cloverdale Rural Fire District Chief Thad Olsen noted that the bull escaped when the concession area was largely empty, according to KTVZ-TV.
“Had it been 25 minutes earlier, people were lined up getting their popcorn, drinks, beers, getting ready to watch the bulls,” he said.
The Cloverdale Rural Fire Protection District staffs an aid station. Olsen said at first, the EMTs there thought something great had happened inside the arena.
“We hear screams. I’m thinking, ‘Oh, someone did a really good ride!” I look up – and people are running up the grandstands, and I’m thinking, ‘What the hell?’” he said.
Olsen said he started to find out what was taking place and heard the announcement that a bull
“I yell down to my guys, ‘Get out of the way!’ – and not five seconds later, the bull flies by,” he said, adding that the “pickup guys (on horseback) are on his tail.”
Although one person was tossed in the air, Olsen noted, “The bull wasn’t malicious about it. He was going back to where the rest of his buddies were. So he was only loose for like 30 seconds … He ran out the gate for the beer garden, back to where the stock was.”
“I’m very proud of the response that we had,” Olsen said. “I honestly think the organizers and the cowboys, even the bullfighters jumped out and tried to do what they could, as quickly as possible. The response was so quick – everybody did their jobs.”
Sisters Rodeo spokesman Brian Witt told KOIN that an incident such as the one Saturday is “extremely rare.”
“You might hear about one a year, in the industry like this,” he said. “But that was a very first.”
