Wild Video Shows Unruly Bull Plow Through Crowd at Rodeo
Four people, including a sheriff’s deputy, were injured with two hospitalized after a bull escaped from the ring of an Oregon rodeo over the weekend and charged through the grounds of the event.
The incident occurred during the final section of the bull-riding event at Sisters Rodeo in Deschutes County, about 22 miles north of Bend, OR, around 10 p.m. on Saturday night. Just before the last ride of the night, the bull, named “Party Bus,” can be seen charging straight at a fence and leaping clear over it, in video taken by speculators.
After escaping, the bull then made a break for a concessions area adjacent to the parking lot, where it could be seen in another video tramping at least one person and tossing them into the air, as the scene completely descended into chaos. After the brief but harrowing ordeal, the animal eventually made its way back to the livestock holding pens where it was subdued by rodeo personnel.
Danielle Smithers, who recorded the above footage of the bull’s initial escape, told Portland’s KOIN 6 News that she inadvertently caught the moment on video while attempting to film a crowd flashlight display.
“I capture him completely going over the gate and disappearing,” Smithers recalled. “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.”
In a statement posted to Facebook on Sunday, Sisters Rodeo said that the safety of fans is the highest priority and that rodeo staff and local law enforcement responded immediately with first aid.
“The rodeo announcer immediately announced the emergency response plan. The bull ran through the rodeo grounds and back to the livestock holding pens,” the statement read. “Rodeo livestock professionals quickly responded to safely contain the bull. It was secured next to the livestock holding pens by our rodeo pickup men and immediately placed into a pen.”
In a separate statement on Sunday, the rodeo confirmed that those who had been hospitalized during the incident had already been discharged.
