Father gives tragic statement as teenage tourist dies after horse-drawn carriage bolts
The father of a teenager who died in New York after a horse-drawn carriage their family was riding on bolted has spoken out about his loss.
Deepak Mahajan and his family had been visiting the US from India and seen various sights in the big apple, and had decided to take a horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park.
The New York Times reports that the carriage driver stepped away to take a picture of the family, and in their absence the horse pulling the carriage bolted, bringing the Mahajan family with it, the driver ran after the carriage but couldn't keep up.
Deepak's wife Priya fell out of the carriage, and his 18-year-old son Romanch jumped down to try and help his mum, but hit his head on the ground.
He died yesterday (17 June) of his injuries at the NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, while the rest of his family suffered minor injuries.
The carriage was smashed into pieces in a collision where it was knocked over.
"We were yelling, 'Help me, help me!' My son, just to save his mother, he fell off, He was screaming, ‘Mum!’," Deepak said of the moment his teenage son fell out of the runaway carriage.
In a statement Alexander Kemp, the vice president of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents carriage drivers, said: "It appears the driver was at least at arm’s length from his horse.
"This is unacceptable. A driver is not supposed to leave the carriage to take photos - ever. We support a full investigation."
Kemp said the horse was seven years old and named Sampson, and had only been working in Central Park for six weeks, adding that the animal would be retired, while the driver was not going to be named and had been suspended indefinitely.
Central Park Conservancy, which has run the park for the past 40 years, had earlier this month released a statement noting there had been several horse-related incidents over the past year or so.
They had released the statement in response to claims that a horse had died after eating vegetation in Central Park and died, saying: "This tragedy underscores something larger: it’s time for New York City to join other major cities around the world and ban horse carriages from our city.
"Today’s Park is busier and more crowded than ever. For the safety of visitors, other animals, and the horses themselves, we continue to support a ban on carriage horse rides in the Park."
They listed a variety of incidents, including on 19 May this year where a horse was spooked and hit another carriage, tipping it over and resulting in a driver being sent to hospital in a neck brace, on 8 January when a horse ran into oncoming traffic, on 4 September last year when tourists had to jump free of a carriage after a horse bolted and two incidents in May last year where horse-drawn carriages went out of control.
Joe Harker