Carriage Horse Bolts in Central Park, Killing Tourist, 18

On Wednesday afternoon, a family from India was doing one of the most ordinary tourist things you can do in New York City. They climbed into a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park for a slow ride past Tavern on the Green. About 20 minutes later, their 18-year-old son was lying on the pavement with a head injury. By that evening, he was gone.

Romanch Mahajan, who was visiting the city with his parents and younger brother, died at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center after falling from a runaway carriage near West 72nd Street. It was the family's first trip to New York. According to reports out of India, it was also the first time a person has died in a carriage accident inside the park. The driver was suspended within hours. The horse is being retired. And a debate that has simmered for years over whether these carriages belong in Central Park at all just got a lot louder.

A Photo Stop That Turned Into a Sprint

The ride was going fine until the family wanted a picture. Midway through, Romanch asked the driver to take a photo of the group. The driver stopped the carriage and stepped back to frame the shot. That is when the horse, a seven-year-old named Sampson, took off. The carriage raced down West Drive, clipped the wheel of another carriage, and tipped over on its side near Tavern on the Green. People were still inside when it went over.

The whole thing happened around 2:45 in the afternoon, in one of the park's busiest stretches near Cherry Hill. There were four passengers in the carriage. The three who survived refused medical treatment at the scene. A witness who ran a hot dog and ice cream stand nearby watched the horse bolt past. Another bystander said it happened so fast that the people in the carriage never had a chance to think about jumping clear.

He Jumped to Try to Save His Mother

The detail that makes this one hard to read came from Romanch's father. As the carriage took off and the driver chased it on foot, Romanch's mother, Priya, was thrown from her seat. Romanch jumped down from the moving carriage to try to help her and hit his head on the ground when he landed.

"We were yelling, Help me, help me," his father, Deepak Mahajan, told The New York Times. "My son, just to save his mother, he fell off. He was screaming, Mom!" The rest of the family walked away with minor injuries. The teenager who tried to play hero is the one who did not. People magazine spoke with the family about those final moments, and there is no version of it that lands softly.

The Driver Walked Away, and the Union Says That Is Never Allowed

Here is where the carriage drivers' own union did something you do not see every day. It threw one of its members under the bus, publicly and fast. The Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents the drivers, said the man was "at least at arm's length from his horse to take a photo of his passengers in the carriage" when Sampson bolted.

Alexander Kemp, an administrative vice president with the union, did not mince words. "This is unacceptable," he said. "A driver is not supposed to leave the carriage to take photos, ever." The carriage owner suspended the driver indefinitely. The union also called for changes, including better driver training, tougher exams with a hands-on test of actual skill, rules about how new horses get introduced to the job, and hitching posts placed around the park so a horse can be secured properly. The union still defends the trade, pointing out that thousands of rides happen without a problem, but even it admitted that steps have to be taken.

Sampson Had Been on the Job Six Weeks

The horse at the center of all this had barely started. Sampson, age seven, had been working in Central Park for only six weeks. That is a brand-new animal in a brand-new, loud, crowded environment, surrounded by traffic, strollers, dogs, food carts, and 42 million visitors a year passing through the park. Nobody has said exactly what set him off. The union and the police both used the same phrase: he took off "for unknown reasons."

The good news, if you can call any part of this good, is that Sampson was not hurt. He is reported to be okay. He will not be pulling carriages anymore, though. The owner is pulling him out of the business for good. A horse with six weeks of experience and an open question hanging over why he panicked is exactly the kind of thing the union now wants new rules to address.

This Was the Eighth Carriage Incident in 13 Months

One accident is a tragedy. A pattern is an argument. And the people who want these carriages gone have been keeping count. The Central Park Conservancy says Wednesday's crash was the eighth horse-related incident in and around the park in the past 13 months. Back in January, a horse dashed into traffic and crashed into cars.

And the timing of this one stings. It happened just eight days after another carriage horse died in the park. On June 9, a 16-year-old horse named Deniz collapsed near West 72nd Street and West Drive while pulling two passengers, and died within about 10 minutes. Police found no criminality, and Deniz was said to have suffered a medical episode, with one report suggesting he had eaten a plant that lines the park. The two passengers in his carriage were not hurt. Council Member Christopher Marte, who has watched these stories pile up, put it bluntly: "This isn't some random act. This isn't some outlier. Literally, we've been seeing this type of action almost every other week."

Ryder's Law Is Back on the Table

Every time one of these incidents happens, the same piece of legislation gets dusted off. It is called Ryder's Law, named after a carriage horse named Ryder who collapsed and later died in 2022. The bill would phase out horse-drawn carriages, move the horses to sanctuary pastures, and give drivers and handlers retraining and job placement help so they are not just thrown out of work. It has been introduced before and never made it across the finish line.

This time the political wind is stronger. A poll cited by several council members found 78 percent of city voters support banning the carriages. Then-Mayor Eric Adams signed Executive Order 56 back in September 2025 backing a phaseout, pointing to the park's 42 million annual visitors as proof the place has gotten too crowded for the trade. And current Mayor Zohran Mamdani has now said he supports a ban outright. "I look forward to working with City Council, union partners, carriage drivers, animal welfare advocates and community leaders to deliver a just transition that protects workers while ending horse-drawn carriages in Central Park once and for all," Mamdani said in a statement.

What Happens Now

The NYPD investigation is still open. For now, the driver is suspended, Sampson is retired, and the city is left arguing about a business that has been part of Central Park for more than a century. PETA director Ashley Byrne is pushing council members, including Health Committee chair Lynn Schulman and Speaker Julie Menin, to pass Ryder's Law right away. The Central Park Conservancy, which has wanted the carriages gone for a while, said it was "absolutely devastated" and called the death "not an acceptable cost of an antiquated industry operating in the middle of one of the most heavily used public spaces in America."

The drivers' side has a real argument too. These rides are a living for a lot of people, and the vast majority go off without a hitch. That is exactly why the union wants stricter training and clearer rules rather than a total shutdown. But the family at the center of all this did not come to New York to weigh in on a city policy fight. They came for a vacation, took a carriage ride, and asked a stranger to snap a photo. Romanch Mahajan was 18 years old, and he died trying to help his mom. Whatever the City Council decides next, that is the part nobody in this story gets to undo.