GAINESVILLE - A crash involving a cattle car transport sends an officer to the hospital and backs up traffic on interstate 75. Four cows escaped after the crash. Three of those cows were corralled by officers. However the last cow was euthanized.

The tire of a cattle trailer holding cows, exploded causing an accident on I-75, near mile marker 387, going southbound. 4 cows spilled and one of those cows ran over an Alachua County Sheriff's Officer sending him to Shands hospital.

Jennifer Smith who was a few cars behind the accident saw it all unveil before her eyes. A cattle trailer holding cows went off the road and hit a tree after its tire exploded. Causing four cows to escape. "And then we saw a cow run into the woods, and then we saw three police officer chase them into the woods... Heard more gun shots then we saw another officer on a four wheeler drive down the shoulder of the road, headed the same way the cow had been going and then we heard more gun shots behind us and then more gun shots in front of us."

The accident happened on I-75. Traffic going southbound was almost at a stand still and only one lane was moving. Traffic going northbound wasn't any better. It was moving just as slow.

Alachua County Sheriff's Office and Florida Highway Patrol were on scene this afternoon attempting to get the traffic flowing. As of now, we know one Alachua County Sheriff's Officer who was injured in the process of herding the cows. He is currently at Shands hospital getting treated for non-life threatening injuries.

And as for that cow. It was euthanized in the process. Smith thinks more training to handle incidents like these, is necessary. "Most people that have experience with cows, know they go through open holes and they are easy to turn aside and they're domesticated animals. I didn't see a cow chasing officers, I saw officers chasing a cow," Smith says.

It is recommended that all southbound traffic divert onto exit 399 and take US-441 south into the Gainesville area and avoid the slow moving traffic which is now backed up to mile marker 394 southbound.