The Mahajan family was on the third day of their first trip to New York City when tragedy struck.
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“We never knew that this was the last day of his life,” Deepak Mahajan told NBC News on Friday about his son Romanch, who died Wednesday after he fell out of a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park.
The family’s 10-day vacation to the United States was meant to celebrate Romanch’s recent high school graduation and acceptance to a university in India.
Romanch, his father, his mother, Priya, and his 11-year-old younger brother, Maanik, were exploring Central Park on Wednesday when they decided to take one of the park’s iconic horse-drawn carriage rides. The roughly 45-minute tour included stops where the driver would take photos of them at scenic locations, Deepak Mahajan said.
Toward the end of the ride, the driver stepped away from the carriage to snap a picture of the family. It was then that the horse bolted.
Romanch fell out of the carriage and hit his head on the pavement, police said. His family said Romanch was attempting to save his mother after she fell from the carriage. The 18-year-old was rushed to a hospital, where he died from his injuries. The rest of the family suffered minor injuries.
“My son was like 6-feet-2 or 6-feet-3, handsome guy, very obedient, very smart guy,” Mahajan said of his son, adding: “It’s a big loss to our whole family.”
Guarav Mahajan, Romanch’s uncle, remembered him as a sincere, down-to-earth teenager who was always willing to help others.
“Doesn’t matter, like, you know, if he knew someone or not, he will always pitch in to help people,” Guarav Mahajan said Saturday.
Romanch had aspirations to become an entrepreneur after graduating from university, his family said.
“He had a lot of, lot of brilliant ideas that he would share with his dad, even us, sometimes,” his uncle said.
Horse carriage rides in New York City’s Central Park remained suspended Friday following Romanch’s death.
The Transport Workers Union, which represents horse carriage drivers in the city, announced in a statement Thursday that its workers had “shuttered the stables and ceased operations” as they undergo “extensive internal discussions of safety protocols and how they can be improved.” It’s unclear exactly when they plan on resuming operations.
According to the union, it appeared that the driver “was at least at arm’s length from his horse” when it bolted off for unknown reasons. A bystander video obtained by NBC News showed the horse, still attached to the carriage, sprinting across the park and eventually colliding with another horse carriage — sending passengers tumbling to the ground.
Alexander Kemp, administrative vice president of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, said drivers are not supposed to leave their carriages to take photos. That driver has since been suspended indefinitely and the horse, which had been at Central Park for only six weeks, has been retired.
“Our hearts go out the family of Romanch Mahajan,” Kemp said in a statement. “Words can’t express the enormity of this tragedy.”
Deepak Mahajan wants to see stricter measures put in place to prevent another family from experiencing a similar tragedy.
“The thing is that there should be some safety measures that no parents lose their son again,” he said.
The Consulate General of India in New York said it is in touch with Mahajan’s family to extend “all possible assistance and support.”
Mahajan’s death is believed to be the first human fatality involving a horse carriage since they were introduced in Central Park more than 150 years ago, according to the Transport Workers Union and the Central Park Conservancy, which manages the 850-acre park.
The tragic incident has now reignited calls from animal advocates, some elected officials and even the Central Park Conservancy — all of which have long advocated to ban horse-drawn carriages in Central Park.
“A young man came to enjoy our park and lost his life. 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,” a spokesperson for the Central Park Conservancy told NBC News in a statement. “This is the tragedy we feared when we first called last year for horse carriages to be banned from Central Park due to the risks they pose to public safety and public health.”
New York City Council member Christopher Marte, who introduced a bill last week to ban horse-drawn carriages, said the incident shows why the practice should end.
“It takes one second of a horse losing its concentration to run off and injure a driver, a passenger, or just a pedestrian,” he said. “We have to end it, not only for the horses, because they’re in extreme conditions, but also for the people around them.”
According to the Central Park Conservancy, there have been eight horse-related incidents in Central Park over the past 13 months. Just last week, a 16-year-old carriage horse in Central Park named Deniz died after ingesting a poisonous plant.
The Central Park Conservancy and others seeking to end horse-drawn carriages in Central Park support Ryder’s Law, a local bill that would not only ban the practice but find transitional jobs for the drivers affected.
On Thursday, Kemp of the Transport Workers Union said members support reforms to the horse-drawn carriage industry as outlined in a different local bill introduced to the New York City Council last week that promotes horse welfare and job protection.
Among the reforms proposed in that bill are installing hitching posts throughout the park “so drivers could tether and secure their horses, which could include locations where tourists often want to stop to take photos,” Kemp said.
