Overview
- The crash occurred during a family carriage ride when the driver stepped away to take a photo, the horse bolted, the carriage hit another vehicle and overturned, and 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan later died from a head injury.
- Witnesses and the victim’s father said the teen jumped from the moving carriage to help his mother, struck his head, and was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell where he died.
- The horse, named Sampson, was uninjured and had been working in Central Park for about six weeks while the carriage owner suspended the driver and removed the animal from service.
- The Transport Workers Union Local 100 called for a full investigation and stronger training, and the Central Park Conservancy and animal-welfare groups renewed demands to end or sharply restrict carriage operations.
- Council leaders including Julie Menin and Lynn Schulman announced hearings on the Ryder bill in the coming weeks, a measure that could phase out or tightly limit horse-drawn carriages after multiple recent incidents.