Horseback-Riding Couple Struck By Truck While Searching for Missing Boy

A Mississippi couple was recently left seriously injured after being struck by a car as they rode horseback during a search party for a missing child. 

On Feb. 11, Brent Boyd, 41, and his wife Shameka Boyd, 40, of Ruth had signed up as volunteers to locate a 6-year-old child from Wesson named Caden Newman. He had gone missing the day before.

According to The Daily Leader, the Copiah County Sheriff’s Office requested the community’s help, and suggested that residents who could aid in the search on horseback do so to help cover more ground. 

The couple had been on their horses, traveling down US-51 North near Martinsville at approximately 6:30 p.m. local time when they were hit by an individual who was driving a 2019 Chevrolet Equinox, the Mississippi Highway Patrol said in a news release.

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The driver, 34-year-old Justin Durr of Brookhaven, was admitted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson for injuries sustained during the crash.

Both of the Boyds' horses were killed by the impact, and the couple was also hospitalized at the same facility as the driver following the wreck, troopers said.

PEOPLE reached out to the Mississippi Highway Patrol for additional comment, but did not immediately hear back.

On Feb. 12, a relative of the family named Jackie Edmonds Saujon confirmed the Ruth residents’ loss via a statement on Facebook.

“These were their pride and joy and their best friends,” Saujon said of the two horses. 

The relative also used social media to give an update on the couple’s health and injuries. 

According to Saujon’s post, the collision caused Shameka to have fractures to her back, neck, rib and tailbone. She needed surgery on her spine and ankle. 

Brent needed surgery on his ankle as well, Saujon wrote online. His thoracic vertebrae were broken on the left side of his spine in the wreck. 

She added that Brent and Shameka “have a long road of recovery ahead of them.”

That same day, another person close to the couple shared information regarding their ongoing recovery.

Tina Russell-Tucker provided a statement via Facebook as well, noting that the message came from Brent’s brother. The sibling called the Boyd’s healing a “marathon,” adding that the doctors were working to make sure the couple was in stable condition.

Newman was later located and returned home safely Sunday afternoon, The Daily Leader said.