{"id":1003102,"date":"2026-08-15T20:59:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T20:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1003102\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T20:59:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T20:59:25","slug":"family-of-teen-killed-in-nyc-horse-carriage-crash-mentions-stray-voltage-in-lawsuit-filings-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1003102\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of teen killed in NYC horse carriage crash mentions stray voltage in lawsuit filings: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a teen killed in a wild June carriage horse crash in Central Park will be filing a $105 million lawsuit against the city \u2014 and names stray voltage in the park<\/a> as a possible cause of the crash, according to a report.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for Romanch Mahajan\u2019s family have filed a notice of claim \u2014 a precursor\u00a0to the coming lawsuit \u2014 and have added Con Edison to their list of defendants, claiming that stray voltage may have \u201ccaused, precipitated, contributed to and\/or was a substantial factor in\u201d the crash<\/a>, the New York Times reported Saturday.<\/p>\n

City Hall, the Departments of Parks and Recreation, Health and Mental Hygiene, Transportation, and Consumer and Worker Protection are also named in the suit.<\/p>\n

The fatal crash has led city leaders and animal rights activists to take a new look at ridding New York of carriage horses. A majority of City Council members \u2014 28 of the 51 \u2014 have signed on as co-sponsors to a bill that would end the industry in New York City by 2028.<\/p>\n

The bill is currently under environmental review to study its environmental impact, since it will end an entire industry.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe aftermath of an out-of-control horse-drawn carriage is pictured in Central Park on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (Obtained by Daily News)<\/p>\n

The Transport Workers Union, which represents some 150 carriage horse workers, said the mention of stray voltage in the upcoming lawsuit is a sign that the carriage horse industry may not be responsible for Mahajan\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cNYC Council Members should now reconsider and reject<\/a> the proposed carriage-horse ban, which would unfairly punish drivers for faulty city and Central Park Conservancy electrical infrastructure,\u201d the union said on X.<\/p>\n

In a statement made last month, union officials said that the discovery of stray voltage in the park \u201craises serious questions about\u00a0whether the horse was shocked and whether stray voltage triggered t<\/a>he tragic incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RomanchRomanch Mahajan\u2019s aunt, Sofia Thukral, lights a candle at a vigil as her son looks on before a press conference in Central Park on Monday, July 27, 2026 in New York City. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that we know there is a utility failure, it would be horrifically unfair to\u00a0eliminate the jobs of 200 overwhelmingly immigrant workers<\/a> without allowing a full investigation to be conducted,\u201d union vice president Alexander Kemp said.<\/p>\n

\u201cStray voltage\u201d is engineering-speak for the naturally occurring, low-voltage charge between two grounded electrical systems. The term is also commonly used as a catch-all for any electricity found where it shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0ConEd spokesman confirmed to the Daily News<\/a> last month that the utility has detected \u201cstray voltage\u201d in that area of the park in recent weeks, and described the amount of electrical voltage detected as \u201cminimal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The horse in question, Samson, bolted from a standstill at Cherry Hill on June 17, after Mahajan in his family, who were visiting from India, had climbed into the carriage after a photo had been taken but before the carriage horse driver was aboard.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Obtained by Daily News<\/p>\n

The aftermath of an out-of-control horse-drawn carriage is pictured in Central Park on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (Obtained by Daily News)<\/p>\n

As the horse fled, Romanch\u2019s mother was thrown from the carriage.<\/a> Romanch jumped after her, hitting his head as he tried to help his mother. He died from his injuries in his mother\u2019s arms<\/a>\u00a0a short time later.<\/p>\n

No direct evidence has been put forth linking Samson\u2019s fatal flight to an electrical jolt.<\/p>\n

The city Law Department will review the lawsuit once it\u2019s filed, an agency spokesman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a teen killed in a wild June carriage horse crash in Central Park will be…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1003103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,18061,5310,401626,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1003102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-central-park","tag-city-council","tag-horse-carriage","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117101539959837022","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1003102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1003103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1003102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1003102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1003102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}