
A photographer who shot images of Madonna Saturday (4/18) after a horseback riding accident in the Hamptons denies he jumped out of the bushes and spooked the singer's horse, according to Newsday.com.
The accident occurred Saturday afternoon while Madonna was riding on a horse farm during a weekend visit in the Hamptons. She was transported to Southampton Hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries and bruises and released.
Her publicist issued a statement saying Madonna's horse "was startled by paparazzi who jumped out of the bushes to photograph the singer."
Thomas Hinton, a freelance photographer who covers the Hamptons each summer, told reporters he took photos of Madonna both before and after the accident but wasn't actually present when she fell, according to reports.
Hinton said he received a tip that Madonna was arriving in the Hamptons by helicopter, and tracked her down at the farm, where he parked his car on the road and aimed his camera through a line of trees. He reportedly said his view was so obstructed by the bushes that he left the site.
Hinton then returned after receiving a tip that a 50-year-old woman had fallen at that address. He told the press that he again stood on the road and took photos of Madonna being carried on a backboard into an ambulance.
"If a photographer startled a horse, I'm thinking we would have seen the pictures by now," Hinton told local reporters. "That would be such an egregious thing to do, to trespass and startle a horse. The police would have been looking for a photographer."