A family of tourists’ picturesque outing in a Central Park carriage turned into a nightmare Wednesday when an 18-year-old from India died after an out-of-control horse pulling the carriage he was riding in suddenly bolted, sending the carriage careening onto its side as onlookers watched in horror.
The precise circumstances of the 2:47 p.m. crash at Cherry Hill near Bethesda Fountain were still coming into focus late Wednesday. Early reports indicated the 18-year-old was in the carriage when it flipped over, but another source familiar with the situation told The News he fell out as the horse began running, but before the carriage went over.
The NYPD reported three other passengers were able to get out of the carriage without suffering significant injury. The boy was taken to an area hospital, initially in critical condition. At about 6:45 pm, police said he had died.
The four passengers were a family of tourists visiting the city from India.
The driver apparently was not in the carriage when the horse bolted, having stepped out to take a photo of the party, union officials said.
“I saw the teenager on the ground by Cherry Hill. He was motionless,” said 48-year-old Helen David, a pedicab driver who witnessed the horror.
“His father was over him. His mother was on the phone, held by her little boy. They were hysterical.”
A journalist for the local outlet West Side Rag, who was in the park at the time of the incident, reported hearing screams from the carriage as it barreled past. A video making the rounds on social media shows a white carriage from behind moving quickly. Shortly into the video, it tips over as it appears to glance off a black horse-drawn carriage on the park drive. It is unclear from the footage what caused the horse to run.
In another apparent video of the incident, taken just as the horse bolts, the carriage appears to hop a curb, sending a rear wheel into the air. As a man chases after the out of control equine, two people — one dressed in green, the other in a light colored shirt — can be seen falling or jumping out of the carriage as the horse races off-screen.
“It appears the driver was at least at arm’s length from his horse to take a photo of his passengers in the carriage,” the Transport Workers Union, which represents the roughly 200 carriage horse owners and drivers, said in a statement. “The horse, which has only been in the park six weeks, took off for unknown reasons. The carriage clipped the wheel of another carriage and toppled”
“This is unacceptable,” the statement continued. “A driver is not supposed to leave the carriage to take photos – ever. We support a full investigation. We also support enhanced driving training, tougher examinations with a practical component demonstrating proficiency, and rules governing the introduction of new horses into the business. Thousands upon thousands of rides are taken without incident but steps must be taken to prevent accidents like this.”
A hospital worker who happened to be in the park when the ambulance came for the teen saw the victim being moved on a board, a medical collar wrapped around his neck.
“He was motionless. He didn’t look good,” said Tiffany Thomas, 40.
The incident comes amid a pitched battle for the future of the carriage horse industry in New York City, and a week after a horse died after ingesting a poisonous plant in the park. The tragic episode is likely to intensify calls to end the Central Park tradition.
“This is yet another serious and terrifying incident involving a carriage horse in Central Park, and it should make clear to everyone that delay is no longer defensible,” Council Member Christopher Marte, who is sponsoring legislation to ban horse carriages from the park, said in a statement.
“We are waiting for full details, but the pattern is deeply troubling. Horses have collapsed, bolted, crashed, died, injured workers, endangered passengers, and now sent another New Yorker to the hospital. No minor reform will make an 1,800-pound frightened animal safe in a crowded public park.”
The Central Park Conservancy — the non-profit that manages the park — reiterated its own call to ban the horses Wednesday in the aftermath of the incident.
“That this frightening situation is just days after the previous one underscores the dangers posed by horse carriages to Park visitors, carriage drivers, and the horses themselves,” a conservancy spokesperson said in a statement.
