Horse-drawn carriages have vanished from Central Park's roads, at least for now, after an 18-year-old tourist from India was fatally thrown from a runaway carriage. The union representing drivers, TWU Local 100, said it has halted all rides while it reviews safety procedures, calling the incident unprecedented, per WABC. "We're absolutely gutted and stunned by this tragedy," a union rep says. "We've never had a fatal accident like this before." New York City's medical examiner said that Romanch Mahajan died of blunt force trauma in what was ruled an accident.
Cellphone video showed the driver sprinting after the bolting horse, with Mahajan's family inside the carriage. The teen's father tells the New York Times that his son fell while trying to help his mother. The crash is intensifying a long-running fight over whether the iconic carriages should exist at all. The Central Park Conservancy and animal rights groups, including PETA and NYCLASS, are now renewing demands for a full ban, aided by recent attention on a separate case of a horse that collapsed and died after eating a poisonous plant, per WABC.
"The record is undeniable: crashes, runaways, horse deaths, injuries, and now a devastating loss of human life," says the head of a local animal-welfare group, per the AP. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has also reupped his support for putting an end to the practice. City Council Speaker Julie Menin plans a hearing next month on Ryder's Law, which would end the industry in the park, reports the Times. The union, however, is instead pushing Intro 937, a bill it says would improve safety, including with measures like hitching posts throughout the park, while preserving drivers' jobs.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
