A man assaulted horses and made threats about having a knife in Central Park to carriage drivers in New York City, according to reports.
Hansom cab drivers allege a man came up to their horse drawn carriages and began punching and kicking the animals. He was screaming profanities as customers attempted to pay for their rides around the park.
The incident took place near to West 59th Street and Sixth Avenue at roughly noon, according to one of the drivers Henry Kaya, 28.
“He raised his hand to punch my horse but I pulled my horse back so we could barely touch my horse,” the driver toldThe New York Post on 5 July.
While Mr Kaya stopped the man from assaulting his horse, Mary, he said that the man said “I have a knife” before running away.
Mr Kaya then said he ran after him, taking video footage on his mobile phone, according to the Post.
In the video, he is heard saying, “Why are you hitting my horse? It’s a poor animal.”
The attacker is seen picking up a high-vis safety jacket from the floor, putting it on, before saying, “He was stabbing me in the back, your friend.”
Mr Kaya then asks people passing by to alert the authorities, before yelling to the assaulter, “Come here! Don’t move! You hit my horse!”
Other drivers reported feeling fearful of the man, who was threatening their animals.
“I look away, I was scared, I didn’t want to look at him,” said Nurettin Kirbiyik, 48, to Fox News, whose horse is called Dennis.
Mario Angelucci, 44, also spoke to Fox News about the attack.
He said the man had told the drivers: “Call the police, I don’t care. They ain’t gonna do nothing”.
Eventually, the New York Police Department arrived at the scene. Due to a lack of evidence and being unable to locate the alleged perpetrator, it was marked as an unfounded case.
