Horse Carriage Overturns During Alleged Race In Columbus Circle

COLUMBUS CIRCLE, NY — A horse carriage flipped over onto its side Tuesday morning near Columbus Circle as two drivers raced for a good pickup spot near Central Park, animal advocates and a witness told Patch.

Two horse carriages were side-by-side while turning from Columbus Circle onto Central Park South shortly before 10 a.m., a witness said. During the turn, one of the carriages' wheels lifted into the air, causing the entire carriage to flip on its side, the witness said.

"If the driver was one to two seconds late it would have been a disaster there. Somehow he held the horse and thank god that nothing happened to the horse, pedestrians and cars," the witness, a pedicab driver who spoke anonymously due to fear of retribution from the horse carriage drivers, told Patch.

After the carriage flipped over, nearby carraige drivers rushed over to the scene to unhook the horse in about two minutes, the witness said. Police were on the scene a few minutes later to help guide traffic around the crash, the witness said.

Christina Hansen, a spokeswoman for the horse carriage industry, denied that the two drivers were racing and said that the horse was not injured. The crash occurred when one horse attempted to simply pass by the other and the carriage wheels clipped, Hansen said.

"The horse never lost his footing nor fell down," Hansen said in a statement. "Other carriage drivers assisted in unhitching and unharnessing the horse, checking him over, blanketing him and walking him to the stable."

The horse was not returned to work Tuesday and will be checked by the vet on Wednesday morning, Hansen said.

The witness shot a video of the aftermath:

Tuesday morning's crash is the latest in a pattern of reckless and illegal behavior committed by horse carriage drivers, advocates from the group New Yorkers for Clean Livable and Safe Streets told Patch.

"Today's incident is the latest example of how New York City's carriage industry, as it currently operates, threatens the safety of both carriage horses and pedestrians," NYCLASS Executive Director Edita Birnkrant said in a statement.

NYCLASS has legislation pending in the City Council that would move the line away from Central Park South and keep carriages out of high-traffic areas such as Columbus Circle, the group said.

Hansen, the spokeswoman for the carriage industry, said that NYCLASS' story of Tuesday's crash is part of the group's "anti-horse agenda."

"They are no doubt upset that no one got hurt, because it doesn’t help their cause for everyone to have acted professionally and for all horses and people to be ok," Hansen said in a statement.

The pedicab driver who witnessed Tuesday's collision said he sees similar races between horse carriage drivers every morning.

"That happens every morning where they race to the spot. Sometimes you can even see them passing through the red lights on Columbus Circle."

Photo/video courtesy NYCLASS