A runaway carriage horse in Central Park on Monday sent park goers scrambling, and it wasn’t the first time something like that has happened this year.
The video, shared on social media, only captured some of the incident on Monday morning. It shows the horse crashing into a sign in the park and a person appearing to fall out of the carriage. Another is seen jumping out, while the horse keeps running.
According to NYCLASS, the incident started in the area of 68th Street and ended near Bethesda Fountain, when the horse crashed into another parked carriage.
TWU Local 100 says the horse got spooked
Transport Workers Union Local 100 shop steward Christina Hansen said a veteran carriage driver and co-worker were training the new carriage horse, named Bambi, when she apparently became upset by a garbage truck.
Hansen said the workers left the cab to calm her, when she took off.
“This horse has not been bothered by large vehicles or trucks, but this was the loudest they’d ever heard, a motor on a garbage truck, and it’s possible they got so close they may have even hit the carriage,” Hansen said.
Hansen said they are still trying to figure out exactly what happened, adding the driver was shaken up.
“He wants to file a report about the behavior of the garbage truck because he thought that was egregious behavior on people who drive around horses every day,” Hansen said.
Witness Danielle Chin said she was dangerously close to the chaos.
“I was really scared and upset for the horse, for the animal, for the people, too, because there were so many tourists, people around, children around. It was really terrifying,” Chin said. “I think it’s truly so lucky that this time the stop sign was not a human.”
NYCLASS sounds off NYC horse carriage industry
The horse was resting in her stall later Monday. The TWU said she wasn’t hurt but she will have to be cleared by the Department of Health before she can go back to work.
“This runaway horse crash proves what’s very obvious, that horse carriages are a public safety threat,” said Edita Birnkrant, executive director of NYCLASS.
The animal advocacy group said Bambi is the fourth horse to get loose in the park this year, referring to similar incidents in May.
Last month, the Central Park Conservancy sent a letter to city leaders “to formally express its opposition to the continued operation of horse-drawn carriages in Central Park.”
It is pushing for Ryder’s Law, which would phase out the industry, which has been in the city since the 19th century.
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