NEW YORK (AP) — A teenager from India who was killed when a Central Park carriage horse bolted from its driver was on a family trip celebrating his high school graduation and died trying to save his mother.Romanch Mahajan, 18, jumped out of the carriage after his mother fell out and hit his head on the ground, his father, Deepak Mahajan, told The New York Times. “He was screaming, ‘Mom!’” the young man’s father told the newspaper. Mahajan said he, his wife and younger son escaped with minor injuries, though their carriage clipped another horse-drawn vehicle and toppled over.The family arrived in New York from India on Monday, the same day Romanch learned he had been accepted to a university in Jaipur. They had spent the day visiting many of the city’s popular tourist attractions and were unwinding on a carriage ride when the driver got off to photograph them. Moments later, the accident occurred.
“This incident should be taken very seriously,” Mahajan said. “It took my son’s dream away.”The company that owns the carriage involved in the fatal crash has also suspended the driver indefinitely, and the horse will be retired from the business, according to the union representing the industry.
