A 27-year-old animal rights activist from Philadelphia was arrested Tuesday after allegedly assaulting two horse-drawn carriage drivers near a Central Park carriage stand, striking one in the head with a skateboard during an expletive-laden confrontation witnessed by families visiting the park, according to police and a union representing the drivers.
Abigail Holbrook screamed at drivers before the attack, accusing them of “animal abuse,” according to video of the incident. “You’re animal abusers! Horses do not do well in New York City. They are very sensitive to light and noise,” she shouted, according to the video. “The people that are f—— using these horses are animal abusers. I’m Squid the Kid, bro. Y’all will know my f—— name.”
The Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) told Fox News Digital that Holbrook punched two 45-year-old drivers during the altercation and struck one of them in the head with her skateboard. Both men suffered minor injuries and declined medical treatment at the scene.
The New York City Police Department took Holbrook into custody, and she is now charged with two counts of assault.
Union Calls for More Police Protection
TWU Local 100 Administrative Vice President Alexander Kemp condemned the attack in a statement, calling for greater police presence at carriage stands.
“This is outrageous and unacceptable. We need a more visible police presence for our members at horse-carriage stands in the park to protect against these wackos. This is their place of work and people are coming just to harass and attack them. All workers deserve to be safe at work.”
Christina Hansen, a union shop steward who witnessed the assault and alerted police, said hostility toward drivers has been fueled by rhetoric from advocacy groups and city leaders.
“The problem is that a lot of people, you know, don’t know anything about horses, and they get misled by these animal rights groups who liken it to slavery, and say that the horses are being tortured by being forced to drag heavy carriages around as if carriages don’t have wheels.”
Hansen argued that drivers’ own financial interests are tied to the welfare of their horses. “Let’s face it, these organizations … make money by getting donations and there’s no money to be made by telling people that our horses are well taken care of,” she said. “I only make money if my horse is well taken care of because I can’t go to work if he can’t pull the carriage, if he doesn’t enjoy his job … so my monetary interest is that my horse is taken care of. Their monetary interest is that the horses are being abused or exploited or whatever.”
Industry Under Political Pressure
The assault comes amid an ongoing legal and political fight over the future of New York’s horse-drawn carriage industry. Last month, the city council voted 40 to 7 to pass Romanch’s Law, named for 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan, who died in June after being thrown from a runaway carriage in Central Park.
The law would phase out horse-drawn carriages entirely by June 1, 2028, while directing the city to set up a transition program for more than 150 drivers and other industry workers.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) pushed back on the union’s framing in a statement to Fox News Digital: “If the horse-drawn carriage trade is suddenly concerned about hostility and violence, it might start by looking in the mirror.”
Hansen noted the carriages’ long history in the city. “Carriage horses have been pulling carriages in Central Park since the day the park opened in December 1858,” she said. “They’ve been living on Manhattan since 1625. The city would not be the city that it is, and Central Park would not be the park that it is, except for horses.”
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