A teenage boy was critically hurt when a carriage horse he was riding in got startled and bolted in Central Park on Wednesday afternoon, cops and sources said.
The 18-year-old was riding in the horse-drawn carriage with two other passengers when the operator dismounted at 71st Street and Centre Drive around 2:45 p.m., possibly to take a picture of the group, according to the NYPD and law enforcement sources.
That’s when the horse became spooked and took off, causing the teen passenger to either fall or jump from the carriage, the sources said.
At some point, the carriage overturned, but it’s unclear if that happened before or after the fall, according to the sources.
Video from the scene shows the operator sprinting after the swiftly moving carriage, as the teen rider drops to the ground.
The teen was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition. The other two passengers did not report any injuries, the sources said.
The operator caught up to the fleeing horse slightly further south in the iconic greenspace, near Tavern on the Green, according to the sources.
The horse appeared to be in stable condition and uninjured, cops said.
The incident comes about a week after a carriage horse named Deniz collapsed and died in Central Park, likely from consuming a toxic plant.
Deniz keeled over at Strawberry Fields around 7:30 p.m. on June 9.
The horse’s death, described by onlookers as “agonizing,” occurred shortly after the animal began thrashing on the ground.
“As details of today’s incident come into focus, our thoughts are with the injured,” the Central Park Conservancy said in a statement Wednesday. “That this frightening situation is just days after the previous one underscores the dangers posed by horse carriages to Park visitors, carriage drivers, and the horses themselves.
“The Central Park Conservancy renews its call to ban carriages in Central Park as a matter of public safety and public health. We hope today’s injuries are the last we ever see.”