A teenage tourist died after leaping from a runaway Central Park carriage to help his mother. Romanch Mahajan, 18, and his visiting family had hired the carriage for a Wednesday afternoon tour. The driver climbed down to photograph the family near the Cherry Hill fountain, and the seven-year-old horse, Sampson, bolted. The teen’s father, Deepak Mahajan, 44, said the carriage veered across the lawn as the driver gave chase. When his wife Priya tumbled out, Romanch jumped after her. “My son, just to save his mother, he fell off,” he said. The teenager struck his head and died that night at the hospital. His parents and younger brother suffered minor injuries when their carriage hit another and overturned. The crash, around 2:45 p.m., added to a long run of carriage accidents. Sampson, working just six weeks, is being retired, with the driver now suspended. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called it a “horrific incident” and renewed his push to end Manhattan’s carriage trade. Romanch had just won a place at university. “It took my son’s dream away,” his father said.
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