Central Park Horse Collision Leads to Renewed Ban Calls

Two carriage horses collided in Central Park on the afternoon of May 18, flipping one of the carriages and sending a coach driver to the hospital, cops confirmed.

By the end of the day, animal rights advocates and local legislators had connected the event to their stalled push to pass a law that would ban carriage horses in New York City, which they hope to revive.

A spooked horse reportedly kicked off the chain of events, which occurred near West 59th Street and West Drive, near the 7th Avenue entrance to the park. An “abrupt movement” had upset the animal, cops said, which then overturned a carriage in front of it and entrapped its 44-year-old driver.

Responding EMS units took the unidentified driver to New York-Presbyterian /Weill Cornell Medical Center in stable condition. The startled horse was uninjured.

Politicians who support the passage of Ryder’s Law—the bill that would essentially end the carriage trade—quickly took to social media to draw attention to the dramatic event.

Council Member Carl Wilson, who recently won an election to represent a swath of Manhattan’s West Side, wrote: “This is unacceptable. For both the horse and the driver. We need to reintroduce and pass Ryder’s Law now.”

Gale Brewer, who represents the Upper West Side in the City Council, wrote that she was “glad that the driver is getting medical assistance and that the horse is OK.”

“But this industry does not belong on NYC streets,” she added.

Council Member Harvey Epstein, who represents an East Side swath of Manhattan–including the LES and parts of Midtown East—that sits a decent distance from Central Park, made clear that he didn’t want carriage horses in the park either and is a supporter of Ryder’s Law, should it be reintroduced.

“Yet another violent horse carriage crash in NYC. This industry constantly endangers both horses and humans,” he wrote. “We must pass Ryder’s law to ensure the safety of our communities.”

The advocacy group NYCLASS (New Yorkers for Clean, Safe, and Livable Streets), which has served as perhaps the most vocal proponent of Ryder’s Law, immediately jumped into the fray with a statement on what they called “yet another terrifying and completely preventable crash in Midtown.”

“NYCLASS urgently calls on @SpeakerMenin and the @NYCCouncil @Lynn4NYC to quickly reintroduce and fast track Ryder’s Law before more people or horses are seriously injured or killed,” NYCLASS Executive Director Edita Birnkrant wrote online, tagging Council Speaker Julie Menin and Queens Council Member Lynn Schulmann.

“Today, both a heat advisory and an air quality alert were in effect, yet these horses were still being forced to work in dangerous conditions,” Birnkrant added. “These incidents keep happening because horses are skittish prey animals who do not belong in chaotic city traffic.”

Ryder’s Law Has Yet to Pass the City Council

Ryder’s Law is named after a carriage horse that collapsed and died on Ninth Avenue back in August 2022, with its driver seen whipping it in an apparent attempt to get it back on its feet shortly thereafter; Ian McKeever, the driver in question, was later acquitted of animal abuse charges by a jury in July 2025.

The bill failed to pass during the 2025 legislative session, which occurred alongside the union that represents carriage drivers—the Transport Workers Union—filing an ongoing $1 million defamation lawsuit against NYCLASS.

Horse Drivers Union Claims Real Estate Play Behind Ban

The TWU alleges that Ryder’s Law is obscuring a bid, under “the guise of animal rights activism,” to free up valuable real estate currently occupied by long-standing carriage horse stables.

This, the union further alleges, might theoretically involve the introduction of horseless “e-carriages” to Central Park—an outcome that a former NYCLASS executive reportedly mused about in a 2010 speech.

“Carriage-horse rides and the horses are a popular attraction, part of what makes the Central Park so special, and are an important source of jobs for an overwhelmingly immigrant group of New Yorkers,” a spokesperson for TWU told Straus News, in response to a request for comment on the latest incident.

”Drivers form a special bond with their beloved horses and the animals’ welfare is the number one priority,” they added.