An Oakville man was pronounced dead at the scene following a traffic collision on State Route 12 on Wednesday, June 22.

According to the Washington State Patrol, Joshua Bubnick, a 28-year-old man who lived in Oakville, was killed after his motorcycle collided with a horse as he was traveling to work. The incident occurred near the intersection of Albany Street SW in Rochester at 4:39 a.m., as the horse was in Bubnick’s lane of travel after getting loose from its pasture.

John Dattilo, who serves as the Washington State District 1 Public Information Officer, couldn’t provide any information related to who called in to report the fatal accident.

“We would need to go through 911 call records to determine who filed the report and so far, those have not been available to us,” Dattilo explained. “As for finding out the cause of death beyond the impact of the collision, we won’t know anything until the Thurston County Coroner’s Office conducts an autopsy.”

Dattilo prefaced his comments by stating that he was filling in Rob Reyer, who conducts all public information requests for District 1, and he was still trying to get caught up on incoming information. Dattilo pointed out the incident was most likely a freak accident.

As for the status of the horse, the Washington State Patrol pronounced it dead at the scene. It is unknown as to who owned the horse at the time of press.