Wei-Huan Chen and Steven Porter

A sculpture outside Purdue University’s Yue-Kong Pao Hall was heavily damaged Thursday morning in a single-vehicle wreck.

Adam Salyer, 22, of Westville went the wrong way down West Wood Street and drove his truck over a curb, then into the sculpture, which is about 15 yards from the street, according to a crash report.

Police suspect that Salyer was intoxicated at the time, the report states.

Deborah Butterfield’s 1,700-pound bronze sculpture, commissioned for Purdue in 2009, is estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, said Harry Bulow, head of the Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts.

“It’s one of the most exceptional horses she’s made,” he said.

Salyer sustained a back injury that required surgery. His passenger, 24-year-old Michael Schlosser of Santa Rosa, California, fled, but was located a short time later. He had cuts and bruises, the report states.

West Lafayette and Purdue police are investigating.

University officials intend to reconstruct the sculpture. They may consider changes to the placement and layout of the horse, which is off to the side of a T-shaped intersection.

Officials are considering sending the piece back to Butterfield. But since the piece was specifically crafted for Purdue, they aren’t sure if Butterfield has the original molds needed to recreate the sculpture.

The damage will most likely be paid for by university insurance, which covers disasters up of to $1 million. Officials are discussing how much of the cost will be fronted by the driver’s insurance company, Bulow said.

Butterfield is an acclaimed modern sculptor based in Montana and Hawaii. Her skeletal horses are first assembled with found driftwood, then taken apart, molded into bronze then welded back into shape. The process is lengthy and delicate, so the reconstruction process will likely be expensive, according to Bulow.

“It could be up to $100,000. I don’t know,” he said.

“It’s a tough one,” he added. “If it can be reconstructed, I’m sure we’ll get it done, whatever the cost.”