Runaway NYC Carriage Horse Bolts Into Traffic, Hits Multiple Vehicles: See Video

NEW YORK CITY — A runaway Central Park carriage horse crashed into multiple vehicles after bolting into oncoming traffic in Midtown Manhattan last week, according to video posted to social media and police.

The incident happened on Thursday at the intersection of West 59th Street and Sixth Avenue and was captured in social media video by nonprofit animal rights organization New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets (NYCLASS).

In the video, the horse — named Destiny — is seen startled and running out of Central Park and going down Sixth Avenue before hitting a taxi.

According to police, a total of four to five unoccupied, unattended vehicles were hit by the horse. Destiny was unharmed in the incident.

NYCLASS said that multiple pedestrians had to jump and run out of the way to avoid getting hit by the horse.

"These violent incidents keeps happening because forcing horses attached to carriages into chaotic city streets is fundamentally incompatible with their nature. It is not going to change," Edita Birnkrant, Executive Director of NYCLASS, said in a statement. "People have already been injured, including carriage passengers, carriage drivers, and pedestrians, and many have had to run for their lives to avoid being trampled."

The nonprofit animal rights organization is calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to pass Ryder's Law. The bill would phase out horse-drawn carriages in the city.

Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents carriage horse drivers in the city, said in a statement that the incident fell “far short of our standards" but also called out special interest groups for trying to ban carriage horses for nearly two decades.

The union said that the horse was startled by a nearby Amazon delivery e-bike with a cargo trailer.