Graphic footage of a carriage driver repeatedly hitting a horse that collapsed in New York City due to exhaustion from the extreme heat went viral online Wednesday.
The horse collapsed during rush hour traffic in Manhattan, lying on the hot asphalt as its driver repeatedly flogged it and demanded it “get up,” as seen in a video shared by the New York Post. The animal instead lay down on its side, resting its head on the street, the outlet reported.
Bystanders can be heard yelling at the driver and his horrific behavior, with one saying “what if I slapped you around like that, bro?” (RELATED: REPORT: Dog Owner Suing Huge Pet Store After Her Pup Allegedly Suffocated During Routine Appointment)
“I saw the horse collapse. He obviously was malnourished, dehydrated, hungry. The guy started whipping his horse and telling him to get back up instead of giving him water,” Kevin Gonzalez, an Uber Eats driver, told the NY Post. “I told him, ‘Yo, stop whipping him, give him some water. That’s a horse, not a machine.'”
New York police officers from the mounted unit sprayed the horse with water and appeared to cover it in ice to relieve its suffering, which was also captured on video by onlookers. They resorted to injecting adrenaline into the horse so they could move it out of the street, the NY Post stated.
horse in carriage collapses in Midtown Manhattan due to the hot weather pic.twitter.com/JqrwaU8QXt
— Viral News NY (@ViralNewsNYC) August 10, 2022
“He knocked the water down because he was so disoriented. He was out of it. He licked the water off the floor because he was so thirsty. The [driver] didn’t care. He didn’t care. He just wanted to get his horse back up so he can make more money,” Gonzalez told the NY Post.
A horse pushing a carriage collapsed in Midtown Manhattan due to the heat, NYPD officers and other city workers helped the horse with water. This is the moment the horse was able to get back on its feet
( Repost) #heatwave #NYC #NYPD pic.twitter.com/TJmpC6XoDA— Viral News NY (@ViralNewsNYC) August 10, 2022
The horse did get back on its feet an hour later, though it did appear to sustain an injury to its knee, according to the outlet.
City council members recently proposed a ban on horse-drawn carriages in July that would also replace them with “electronic alternatives,” according to NY1. If enacted, the ban would take effect in June 2024, the outlet reported.