{"id":2402,"date":"2026-06-18T23:08:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T23:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2402"},"modified":"2026-06-18T23:08:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T23:08:42","slug":"teen-tourist-who-was-thrown-to-his-death-from-central-park-horse-was-desperately-trying-to-save-moms-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2402","title":{"rendered":"Teen tourist who was thrown to his death from Central Park horse was desperately trying to save mom’s life"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

He died a hero.<\/p>\n

A teen tourist who was tragically\u00a0thrown to his death\u00a0from a Central Park horse carriage was reportedly trying to save his mother\u2019s life after the animal bolted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Mamdani soaks up spotlight with droning, nearly 10-minute speech at Knicks NYC ceremony<\/a><\/p>\n

Romanch Mahajan, 18, a tourist from India, was taking in the Big Apple sites with his family when they booked an iconic horse-and-buggy ride and the spooked beast took off in a deadly, caught-on-video mishap.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were yelling, \u2018Help me, help me!\u201d the teen\u2019s father, Deepak Mahajan, told the New York Times.<\/p>\n

His wife, Priya, then fell from the carriage and Romanch jumped down to try to help her, the grieving dad told the outlet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son, just to save his mother, he fell off,\u201d Deepak Mahajan said. \u201cHe was screaming, \u2018Mom!\u2019\u201d\u00a0
Mahajan fell on the ground and struck his head.<\/p>\n

He was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The carriage driver\u00a0had gotten out to take a picture of the family when the horse bolted, tearing up onto the sidewalk and accelerating on the grass.<\/p>\n

Dramatic video footage shows the driver desperately chasing after the runaway carriage before the teen is thrown to the ground and the buggy crashes into the ground.<\/p>\n

The incident is now under investigation, with the carriage driver\u2019s union saying its members are never allowed to leave the carriage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears the driver was at least at arm\u2019s length from his horse. This is unacceptable,\u201d Alexander Kemp, a vice president at Transport Workers Union Local 100, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cA driver is not supposed to leave the carriage to take photos \u2014 ever. We support a full investigation,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

The union said the driver has been suspended, and the 7-year-old horse, Sampson, was retired from service.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When reached at his Queens home, driver Ertan Gokdepe declined to comment, but a\u00a0shop steward\u00a0from the union who was with him spoke up on his behalf, saying:\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s absolutely devastated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been driving a carriage for 20 years. Nothing like this has ever happened to him. Nothing like this has ever happened to our industry. So it\u2019s just awful,\u201d the rep said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also worried that opponents of carriage horses will come after him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s worried about his family. These people that we\u2019re dealing with aren\u2019t normal people,\u201d the rep said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ryder\u2019s Law, a bill to phase out horse carriages, was reintroduced to the City Council last week. The law is named after a carriage horse named Ryder, who collapsed while working on a hot August day in 2022.<\/p>\n

Read more Jalen Brunson lifts Larry O\u2019Brien trophy alongside wife, daughter at Knicks parade<\/a><\/p>\n

The City Council\u2019s health panel refused to advance Ryder\u2019s Law out of committee in November, despite support from equine activists and former Mayor Eric Adams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hours before he left office, Adams signed an executive order mandating that the fleet of horse carriage drivers undergo regular veterinary inspections and be\u00a0tested for drugs and injuries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The move came\u00a0 weeks after city-hired veterinarian Dr. Kraig Kulikowski attempted to conduct \u201cindependent\u201d testing on a sampling of a dozen carriage horses across three stables but was thwarted.<\/p>\n

All 12 horses\u2019 carriage owners refused \u201cstandard\u201d follow-up tests such as trotting to evaluate possible lameness and blood testing for drugs such as painkillers,\u00a0The Post previously reported.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was sworn into office in January, had expressed earlier support for the ban on the Central Park carriages, telling reporters, \u201cI plan to deliver on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, his administration has not followed through.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manhattan Councilman Christopher Marte, a fierce opponent of horse-drawn carriages, issued a scathing statement after Wednesdays fatal accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnough is enough,\u201d Marte said. \u201cThis is yet another serious and terrifying incident involving a carriage horse\u00a0in Central Park, and it should make clear to everyone that delay is no longer defensible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The horse-carriage death comes about a week after a carriage horse named Deniz collapsed and died in Central Park, likely from consuming a toxic plant.<\/p>\n

Deniz keeled over at Strawberry Fields around 7:30 p.m. June 9.<\/p>\n

The horse\u2019s death, described by onlookers as \u201cagonizing,\u201d occurred shortly after the animal began thrashing on the ground.<\/p>\n

Only weeks before Deniz\u2019s death, a coachman was injured when a spooked carriage horse charged into another horse-drawn carriage and caused it to overturn in Central Park.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Wednesday\u2019s\u00a0incident prompted a curt statement from PETA, which has long opposed the use of the horses for the amusement of tourists.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom collapsing horses to careening carriages, how many more disasters have to strike before we get these beleaguered horses out of the park?\u201d a spokesperson for the animal rights group said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor everyone\u2019s safety, PETA is calling on council members, Health Committee Chair Lynn Schulman, and Speaker Julie Menin to stop dithering and pass Ryder\u2019s Law immediately,\u201d the statement said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, community organizers have scheduled a vigil following the tragic crash, to be held at 10:45 a.m. Monday at the Cherry Hill Fountain.<\/p>\n

Read more Cops stop Knicks\u2019 Tyler Kolek thinking he\u2019s a fan during parade<\/a><\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romanch Mahajan, 18, a tourist from India, was taking in the Big Apple sites with his family when they booked an iconic horse-and-buggy ride when the spooked beast took off in a deadly, caught-on-video mishap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metro"],"yoast_head":"\nTeen tourist who was thrown to his death from Central Park horse was desperately trying to save mom's life - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2402\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teen tourist who was thrown to his death from Central Park horse was desperately trying to save mom's life - 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