Posted on 01/03/2006 7:23:31 AM PST by Calpernia
A horse-drawn carriage driver was hospitalized in critical condition after the animal bolted for blocks through midtown Manhattan, crashing into a station wagon and leaving the man in a pool of blood, witnesses and police said.
"It was horrifying,'' said Robyn Hussa, who saw the horse racing through traffic Monday night. "It was like a nightmare.'' The horse, which had no passengers in its carriage, smashed into the station wagon at 50th Street and Ninth Avenue around 9:30 p.m., injuring two men in the car, fire department Chief Jim Hodgens said.
The carriage driver was thrown into the street, which was soaked in blood by the time the man was taken away in an ambulance, witnesses said.
"He wasn't moving at all, and there was blood all over the place,'' said Philip Emran, who had been eating dinner at a restaurant on the corner.
The men in the station wagon were in stable condition early Tuesday, said police Officer Doris Garcia.
Emran said the horse was wrapped around the station wagon, its rear legs on top of it and its head on the ground. The windshield of the car was smashed, and the four-wheel carriage was mangled.
The horse later stood at the scene before being driven away while bucking and kicking in a police wagon. It was unclear how badly the animal was injured.
Authorities at the scene didn't immediately know the origin of the horse and carriage, which had heart-shaped cutouts for windows.
Jasna Tomasevic, visiting from Orlando, Fla., said she was so horrified by what she witnessed through the window while dining at the corner restaurant that she had to change seats.
"This is really not something which I want to see,'' she said.
Last May, a pair of horses were turned loose in traffic on the West Side of Manhattan when a hit-and-run truck driver flipped a 120-year-old stagecoach onto its side, sending the runaway equines on an unscheduled jaunt across town. The horses, which weren't injured, where corralled a few blocks away.
Manhattan carriage rides, generally in and around Central Park, are popular with tourists year-round and have been featured in movies and shows such as "Barefoot in the Park,'' which starred Jane Fonda and Robert Redford as newlyweds, and HBO's "Sex and the City.'' Carriages line up along Central Park South, about 10 blocks from where Monday's crash occurred, offering 30-minute rides for about $40.
My thought, too. The ditz seems to think that the driver decided to get thrown to his death - or very nearly so, at least - next to her table just to ruin her precious lunch. Talk about self-centered!
Horses are wildly unpredictable animals, and when a half-ton of animal gets moving, it's very hard to stop. Prayers for the driver - and even for the horse.
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