Horse-drawn carriage rides paused in Central Park after 18-year-old tourist killed

NEW YORK -- The day after a teenager died after being thrown from a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park, the union representing drivers says it has stopped all rides for now.

The latest tragedy has led to renewed calls to ban horse carriages in the park.

The union suspended operations after Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old tourist from India, was thrown from a runaway carriage and killed. A medical examiner ruled his cause of death as blunt force trauma, and the manner of death as an accident.

"We're absolutely gutted and stunned by this tragedy. We've never had a fatal accident like this before. We have shuttered the stables and ceased operations today while we have extensive internal discussions of safety protocols and how they can be improved," said TWULocal 100 Administrative Vice President Alexander Kemp.

Christina Hansen, also with TWU Local 100, said, "We definitely want to return our horses to the park where they've always been, you know, but at the time that it's appropriate."

Cellphone video captured the driver chasing his carriage after his horse - for reasons still unknown - took off running with the family of four still inside.

The victim's father, Deepak Mahajan, told the New York Times, "We were yelling, 'Help me, help me'...my son, just to save his mother, he fell off. He was screaming, 'mom!'"

The accident has only accelerated calls from the Central Park Conservancy and animal rights advocacy groups PETA and NYCLASS to put an end to the horse-drawn carriage industry.

It comes just over a week after another horse ate a poisonous plant, collapsed in Central Park and died.

"First, we lost a horse and one of our customers has been killed...and just the tragedy of the human loss," Hansen said. "This is this is our kind of customer, you know who's here, celebrate a special occasion and people come here, celebrate graduations, birthdays, anniversaries, and to have something like this happen, it's just devastating."

New York City leaders, meanwhile, vowed to work to put an end to the quaint attraction, which harkens back to a romanticized, bygone New York.

City Council Speaker Julie Menin said the legislative body would hold a hearing next month on Ryder's Law, the bill backed by the conservancy.

"The time to act is now," she wrote on the social platform X.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani also reiterated his support for ending the industry, saying he'd work with the council, the industry and animal welfare advocates to "deliver a just transition that protects workers while ending horse-drawn carriages in Central Park once and for all."

Some horse owners said the industry needs better regulations to make it safer and many horse-related accidents could be avoided simply by installing hitching posts throughout the park so drivers could safely tether and secure their horses, including at popular tourist photo stops.

The Transport Workers Union on Thursday said legislation introduced into the council last week would do just that.

"Intro 937 is a horse welfare and job protection bill that calls for, among other things, hitching posts throughout the park so drivers could tether and secure their horses, which could include locations where tourists often want to stop to take photos (such as in this tragic situation)," the union said in a statement.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)