A runaway carriage horse carrying a terrified tourist couple near Central Park today crashed into a parked van and a moving car – and was finally corralled several blocks away, witnesses said.
A runaway carriage horse carrying a terrified tourist couple near Central Park today crashed into a parked van and a moving car – and was finally corralled several blocks away, witnesses said.
The afternoon drama began on Central Park South near Columbus Circle when a moving van’s horn spooked the young steed and sent it galloping along the sidewalk with two passengers in its carriage and no driver in control.
Witnesses said the driver had been outside the carriage with the reins in his hands, turning the horse around when the horse began to bolt.
The driver held on as long as he could until the horse pinned him against the wall. Another driver tried to help, but the horse was too strong, sprinting west along the sidewalk past surprised pedestrians.
The couple would have been in for a much longer ride if the horse had not crashed into a parked van at Columbus Circle. There, the carriage broke apart, and the couple fell out. Witnesses the man hit his head during the fall, and the woman tried to comfort him.
The horse, meanwhile, continued its frightened journey, colliding with a Town Car before finally being caught at 9th Avenue and W. 57th Street.
Witnesses said the driver and the couple were taken to a hospital.