Minnesota state trooper Jesse Grabow was patrolling Interstate 94 near Alexandria Thursday when a car in front of him careened off the freeway and into Lake Lakota. Grabow say he was calling for backup before the car had even hit the water.

Authorities tell KSTP-TV a mounted patrol was clearing people from a block when 21-year-old Mack Stingley slapped the horse. When officers asked Stingley to leave the horse alone, he allegedly punched the animal in the face.

Two pedestrians were hit and killed by trains on Sunday, one in downtown Dundas near Northfield, Minn., and a recent high school graduate in Fargo.

A horse that broke free from its pasture in Forest Lake needed to be rescued Wednesday after it fell through a neighbor's swimming pool cover into about three feet of water. Firefighters used an aerial ladder truck to lift the horse to safety.

Last week, a 900-pound quarter horse, Molly, belonging to Lori Hart of rural Aitkin County, was mauled by a cat that a veterinarian confirmed was either a mountain lion or a cougar, the Brainerd Dispatch reports. Molly is recovering, but the attack left the horse with a nasty wound to its back right leg.