Central Park carriage driver breaks wrist, others injured after two horses break loose: ‘Thankfully I was not killed'
Wild, wild horses dragged these buggies away.
A pair of runaway carriage horses broke a driver's wrist and injured others in Central Park on Monday after they got free and bolted — just one week after another horse went rogue, wild videos show.
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6 A pair of runaway carriage horses took off in Central Park midday Monday.
Edita Birnkrant
The chaotic escape occurred about 2:30 p.m. when a steed prepared to take on passengers near the Central Park Zoo was spooked and sped off towards 59th Street traffic, Edita Birnkrant, executive director of NYCLASS, told The Post.
The horse, named Shadow, then abruptly veered back into the park and crashed into a fleet of parked pedicabs, Birnkrant said.
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The commotion then panicked a second stallion, causing it to bolt too. There were no passengers aboard either buggy hitched to the animals.
6 Two carriage horses running wild — without drivers — through Central Park on Memorial Day.
Edita Birnkrant
Dramatic footage of the scene, posted to social media, shows a pedicab driver reining in the horses while panicked coachmen frantically chase after them.
Christina Hansen, the union rep for Central Park's carriage horses, told The Post that Shadow — a new horse to the park — was eating beside his 40-year industry veteran driver when he slipped out of his bridle.
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6 A pedicab driver intercepts a carriage horse running loose in Central Park.
Edita Birnkrant
The hero pedicab operator — who was the same driver who helped to corral a runaway horse last Sunday — said he intercepted the buggy of the first horse with his bike. He sustained a leg injury from being kicked during the mayhem.
'Thankfully, I was not killed, it was too scary,' said the pedicab driver, who declined to provide his name to The Post.
He described how it was 'the second time to see the same thing — to have the horse coming at full speed.'
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6 'The incident highlights the need for hitching posts to tether idle horses in place,' Hansen said, 'which drivers and the union have requested from the city in previous discussions.'
TikTok/@mirandamooney
The driver, whose pedicab was flipped over and damaged in the kerfuffle, ended up cycling Shadow's coachman to Mount Sinai West for a broken wrist.
Another carriage driver was reportedly kicked in the head, and a third broke their hand.
'The heroic pedicab driver saved people's lives doing what he did and putting himself at risk,' Birnkrant said, adding that the horses must 'definitely be traumatized' and that she would 'be surprised if they didn't have some kind of injuries.'
6 Edita Birnkrant, executive director of NYCLASS, calling to end the practices of horse carriages in New York City outside City Hall during a rally Wednesday.
Paul Martinka
Hansen said the incident highlights the need for more hitching posts to tether idle horses, 'which drivers and the union have requested from the city in previous discussions.'
However, Birnkrant argued that a hitching post could be easily ripped out by a startled horse — and that it is just another example why the practice should be banned in the Big Apple.
It is 'simply a miracle' that nobody was 'killed' in the recent incidents, the animal rights activist said at a rally outside City Hall on Wednesday, before adding, 'but the luck is going to run out.'
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6 Animal activists stage a die-in outside City Hall on Wednesday in protest of the horse carriage industry.
Paul Martinka
Meanwhile, animal activists doused themselves in fake blood outside City Hall to demand an end to the carriage horse practice.
'We have had dozens of these runaway horse crashes, horses dropping dead, crashing into vehicles and injuring people,' Birnkrant said.
'Not only is this a deadly industry, but it's extremely dangerous for everyone in Midtown.'
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A spokesperson for City Hall told The Post that the Adams administration is 'dedicated to keeping New Yorkers safe everywhere in our city, which also means keeping our city's animals safe.
'We are looking into this concerning incident,' the rep added.
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