NYC Officials Seek to Ban Horse Carriages After Fatal Crash

New York City officials are moving swiftly to ban horse-drawn carriages following the death of an 18-year-old tourist who was fatally injured when a carriage horse bolted and overturned in Central Park. The incident has reignited a long-simmering debate over the safety and ethics of the century-and-a-half-old tradition, with a City Council hearing on the proposed ban scheduled for July.

The Incident

Romanch Mahajan, a tourist visiting New York City from India with his family, was killed on Wednesday, June 17, when a horse-drawn carriage near Cherry Hill at West 72nd Street and West Drive became spooked and bolted. According to Fox News, the horse ran down West Drive before colliding with another carriage and flipping over near Tavern on the Green.

Mahajan’s father, Deepak Mahajan, told NBC New York that his son died trying to save his mother, who had fallen out of the carriage after the impact. The rest of the family sustained only minor injuries.

Alexander Kemp, administrative vice president of TWU Local 100, the union representing carriage drivers, said preliminary information indicates the driver stepped away from the horse to take a photo of the passengers before the animal took off. “This is unacceptable,” Kemp said. “A driver is not supposed to leave the carriage to take photos — ever.”

The driver has been suspended indefinitely, and the 7-year-old horse, named Sampson, has been retired from service. The horse had only been working in the park for six weeks.

A Pattern of Incidents

The Central Park Conservancy reported that Mahajan’s death was the eighth horse-related incident in and around Central Park in the past 13 months. Just one week prior, on June 10, a 16-year-old carriage horse named Deniz collapsed and died near the same intersection while pulling tourists through the park. Another carriage reportedly overturned in May 2026 after a horse became spooked and struck a second carriage.

According to the New York Post, the string of incidents has given renewed urgency to legislative efforts that had stalled just months earlier.

Legislative Momentum: Ryder’s Law Becomes Romanch’s Law

A bill originally known as Ryder’s Law — first proposed in 2022 by former City Council Member Bob Holden after a horse named Ryder collapsed on a Hell’s Kitchen street and later died — had failed to advance out of committee in November 2025. But following Mahajan’s death, NYCLASS (New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets) announced that the bill would be renamed “Romanch’s Law” in the victim’s honor.

Council Speaker Julie Menin has scheduled a hearing on the bill for July. “It is now time to act,” Menin said in a statement. “The Council recently introduced Ryder’s Law to address longstanding concerns surrounding the horse carriage industry, and we will hold a hearing on the bill in July.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office in January 2026, has signaled strong support for ending horse-drawn carriages in Central Park, promising “a just transition that protects workers.”

Conflicting Perspectives

The Central Park Conservancy, which has long opposed horse-drawn carriages, called the incident the tragedy it had long feared. “A young man came to enjoy our park and lost his life,” a spokesperson said. “That is not an acceptable cost of an antiquated industry operating in the middle of one of the most heavily used public spaces in America.”

The union representing carriage drivers, TWU Local 100, has taken a more measured position. While acknowledging the driver’s actions were unacceptable, the union argues this is the first passenger fatality in the industry’s history and supports enhanced safety protocols rather than an outright ban. The union has implemented a safety stand-down suspending rides and is developing new training protocols.

What’s Next

With a City Council hearing scheduled for July and strong support from the mayor, the passage of Romanch’s Law appears more likely than ever. If enacted, the legislation would phase out horse-drawn carriages in New York City and provide transitional job placement services for the approximately 200 carriage owners and drivers who would be affected.

A vigil was held Monday at Cherry Hill Fountain in Central Park to honor Romanch Mahajan, as the city grapples with the question of whether a cherished tradition has become an unacceptable risk in one of America’s most densely populated public spaces.