Runaway Bull On Highway 4 Causes Multiple Car Pileup

MARTINEZ (KPIX 5) -- A runaway bull caused a six-car pileup in the East Bay Monday night.

At 7:59 p.m., the California Highway Patrol received a call about a bull walking in the fast lane on eastbound state Highway 4 east of McEwen Road in unincorporated Contra Costa County.

A short time later, CHP received calls reporting a vehicle had struck a bull and other vehicles involved in a chain reaction crash.

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Arriving officers located two separate collisions. One collision involved a single vehicle that had fatally struck the bull.

The second collision involved five vehicles. Three people were transported to a hospital with minor injuries, CHP said

It's not clear where the animal came from, but a local rancher speculates all our stormy weather may have had something to do with it.

"Maybe because of this terrible winter ... erosion underneath the fence, the hill slid and the cow got out that way...It scares us all to death when they get out on the freeway," said local rancher Nick Compaglia.

Compaglia estimates the bull was worth between $8,000 and $10,000.