A horse-drawn carriage in Central Park toppled onto its side on Monday, leaving its driver with minor injuries, after a horse attached to a carriage behind it was startled, the Police Department said.<\/p>\n
The incident was the latest involving New York City\u2019s horse-drawn carriages, which have become the subject of a long-running political debate over animal welfare, public safety and jobs.<\/p>\n
It happened shortly before 4 p.m. when the two carriages were parked, one behind the other, inside the park near its southwest corner at West 59th Street, the Police Department said.<\/p>\n
Troy, the horse attached to the second carriage, was startled by what the police described as an abrupt movement and reared, knocking the first carriage onto its side. It was unclear what movement caused the horse to react, the department said.<\/p>\n
The first carriage\u2019s coachman fell onto the ground and was treated for minor injuries, according to the department. Neither horse was hurt, and no passengers were in either carriage at the time of the incident.<\/p>\n
Animal-rights advocates have pointed to a series of accidents in arguing that the city should ban its horse-drawn carriages, a longtime Central Park fixture. The Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents the city\u2019s more than 200 carriage drivers, has opposed a ban, saying it would threaten their livelihoods.<\/p>\n
The Central Park Conservancy, the nonprofit that operates the park, has supported a City Council bill introduced in 2024 that would ban the carriages. The measure was named Ryder\u2019s Law<\/a> after a horse collapsed in Midtown Manhattan<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the conservancy said the incident was \u201ca stark reminder of the dangers that horse-drawn carriages pose in an increasingly crowded Central Park \u2014 not only to the Park\u2019s millions of visitors, but very often to the drivers themselves.\u201d It renewed its call to ban carriages in the park.<\/p>\n In August, Betsy Smith, the conservancy\u2019s president, asked city officials<\/a> to ban the carriages, saying they had become a public health and safety issue as the park\u2019s visitor numbers reached record levels. Days earlier, a horse named Lady collapsed and died<\/a> at a Manhattan intersection.<\/p>\n