Council Member Robert Holden described the acquittal of New York City carriage driver Ian McKeever as a “travesty of justice” after McKeever was cleared of animal cruelty charges related to the collapse of a horse in August 2022.
Prosecutors had argued that McKeever relentlessly drove the horse — named Ryder — on an 84-degree day in August 2022 accusing him of ignoring signs that the animal was struggling to pull the carriage during a seven-hour day in Central Park.
Ryder went down on Ninth Avenue while returning back to his stable, with viral footage showing the horse lying on his side with his ribs visible through his stomach. Eventually, the horse stood and was driven back to his stable in a trailer. However, he was euthanized two months later.
Prosecutor Taylor Maurer accused McKeever of pressing on “business as usual” and overworking the horse, who was estimated to be 26 years old at the time the incident. McKeever, who pleaded not-guilty to a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge, told police that the horse was 13.
McKeever’s attorney Raymond Loving told jurors that the horse was properly cared for and wasn’t overheated, stating that the animal simply tripped and fell on the day in question.
“Ryder’s fall is heartbreaking, but the evidence in this case is not going to show that Ryder fell because Ian overdrove him,” Loving told jurors, according to ABC News.
McKeever, 56, sobbed as the jury delivered a not-guilty verdict after less than an hour of deliberations. He later welcomed the verdict, stating that he has never abused an animal in the 40 years he has been in business.
He added that the case has had a negative impact on him over the past three years, telling reporters that it “killed him” that people thought he abused animals.
Holden, however, slammed the verdict in a statement released on Monday afternoon.
The Queens Council Member, who introduced “Ryder’s Law” to outlaw the horse carriage industry in New York City in the wake of the August 2022 incident, accused McKeever of overworking the animal on the day in question. He also alleged that footage captured McKeever whipping the horse as it struggled through the streets of New York.
“This is a travesty of justice. Ian McKeever knew Ryder’s true age — the horse was nearly 30 years old, the equivalent of a 90-year-old human — and still chose to force him to work on the scorching streets of Manhattan,” Holden said in a statement.
“This decision ignores the cruelty and inhumanity of what happened. I will not give up on ending this barbaric and outdated industry once and for all,” Holden added.
Holden encouraged his colleagues in the City Council to stand with him against the horse carriage industry.
The practice has been a fixture of Central Park for at least 150 years and has ignited fierce debate in recent years. Animal advocates have described the practice as inhumane, while supporters of the practice state that horse-drawn carriages boost tourism and create jobs.
McKeever defended the practice long before the August 2022 incident, telling the Associated Press in 2014 that the practice provides jobs for farm and racing horses that would otherwise be euthanized.
“If they did not come to New York City, most of these horses would be dead,” McKeever told the AP.
