Teen Dies After Horse-Drawn Carriage Overturns In Central Park, Police Say

CENTRAL PARK, NY — An 18-year-old boy has died from his injuries after falling from a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park on Wednesday afternoon, New York City Police Department officials said.

According to the NYPD, the teen was inside the carriage when the spooked horse started running, tipping the carriage over near 71st Street and Center Drive in the park at 2:47 p.m.

Police said Romanch Mahajan was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead at around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday.

The NYPD said three other passengers were able to get out of the carriage without injury.

According to the Central Park Conservancy, a not-for-profit private organization that operates the park, the horse broke free at Cherry Hill near 72nd Street and West Drive, and bolted down West Drive until it collided with another carriage, flipping over near Tavern on the Green.

According to a statement from the Transit Workers Union, which represents the carriage drivers, the driver got out of the driver's seat to take a photo of the family.

"This is unacceptable," the union's spokesperson said to the New York Daily News, adding that the "driver is not supposed to leave the carriage to take photos – ever. We support a full investigation."

The incident is just one week after another carriage horse collapsed and died on the job in Central Park, intensifying calls to ban the tradition altogether.

"This is the tragedy we feared when we first called last year for horse carriages to be banned from Central Park due to the risks they pose to public safety and public health," a spokesperson from the Central Park Conservancy said. "A young man came to enjoy our park and lost his life. That is not an acceptable cost of an antiquated industry operating in the middle of one of the most heavily used public spaces in America."

The Central Park Conservancy said that this is the eighth horse-related public safety incident in the past year.

Last week, a horse named Deniz collapsed and died while giving two people a ride around 7:30 p.m. on June 9 at West 72nd Street and West Drive. According to a report from the Transit Workers Union, which represents the carriage drivers, the horse had eaten a poisonous shrub and had a medical episode.

This past August, a carriage horse named Lady collapsed and died in Hell's Kitchen, just weeks after a New York jury acquitted carriage horse driver Ian McKeever of animal abuse charges for Ryder, a 30-year-old carriage horse who collapsed while on the job and later had to be put down.

A City Council bill from 2024, named for Ryder, would ban the practice altogether, but it didn't pass.

However, a new version of Ryder's Bill was reintroduced in the council on June 10, and a hearing for the bill will be scheduled in July, Council Speaker Julie Menin said in a joint statement with Councilmember Lynn Schulman, Chair of the Committee on Health.

"It is now time to act," the lawmakers said. "We look forward to hearing from all stakeholders and reviewing measures to address horse welfare and public safety concerns as we work toward a thoughtful solution to this urgent issue."

This is a developing story and will be updated. For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.