Deepak Mahajan testifies about son Romanch's death
Deepak Mahajan, Romanch's father, delivers emotional testimony about the family's trip from India, the carriage ride, the horse bolting, his son's fatal head injury, and the devastating impact on the family.
Members of the council, we are romance mother and father Priya and Deepak Mahajan.
We brought our son to the New York from India to celebrate romance finishing school.
The day we landed, he found out that he had been accepted to one of the most prestigious universities in India.
Two days later, we took a carriage ride in Central Park and near the end of the ride,
The driver stepped away from the horse to take our family picture.
The horse ran away out of control.
I cannot properly describe to you the real truth here inside that carriage.
It was shaking, it was speeding, there was no one holding the reins.
And we could do nothing but hold on to each other and scream.
My wife fell, Romesh tried to help his mother and he too fell.
Then he hit his hand on the ground and he did not move.
Head to the ground.
He never moved again.
I kept shouting his name but he did not move.
He was 18, 6 foot 2, obedient, smart, the boy who helped everyone whether he knew them or not.
Who was always sharing his ideas with me.
He wanted to build something of his own.
He died that day.
He took his last breath in his mother's arm while he was in the hospital.
His 11-year-old brother and I stood watching.
This was the last year of his life.
No one planned for this or expected to happen to their child, but it happened to us.
Now we live inside that day over and over again.
We are shattered.
Our whole family is shattered.
The pain does not go away.
Every morning we wake up and think of nothing but the loss of our son.
We came to New York as a family of four.
We are learning hard by hard to cope up with life as we are three now.
Our home is no longer the same.
We still have not unpacked romance luggage from that trip.
Every time we enter his room, we break down.
His books, his belongings, and his dreams are exactly where he left them.
His friends are shattered.
They had plans with him for college, for life, for the future.
They still struggle to believe that he's gone.
Our younger son, Manik, who is now our only son, is unable to cope with the trauma and horror he witnessed that day.
He watched his brother die.
He lost not only his sibling, but his companion, his guide, and his best friend.
No child should ever have to carry memories like this for the rest of their life.
And for us, every night is a night here.
We close our eyes and relive that character, the screams, the helplessness, and the moment our son's life ended before ours.
I want you to imagine what it is like watching her son die right in front of you.
I would not wish one hour of any of this on any family this worth.
Ravanch was wearing a red striped shirt and blue jean.
Sometimes when he thinks back to those final moments, it feels as though he was wrapped in the color of American flag.
A young boy who came to America full of dreams and left us for too soon.
This was not an unpredictable accident.
It was a safety violation.
A system failure to protect the people who visit our city, your city, and everyone responsible has admitted the driver should never have left that carriage.
And still, the ride went back on the streets while we were planning our son's funeral.
As if our boy was a temporary inconvenience, but we will not let that be Roman's legacy.
Now, we are asking you plainly, act now.
A version of this law sat before this council last year, and if it had passed, the carriages would have stopped on June 1st, 2026.
Roman died on June 17th.
If the city council has passed the law banning horse-drawn parallel ridges last year, our son will still be alive today.
The only measure that can prevent another death or injury is a full and complete ban.
Pass Intro 943 from Manchester Law.
Let our son be the last beating of the industry.
Let's see.
That's not being good.
Thank you.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
So sorry for your loss.
Next we have Gauravna Hajoon and, sorry, Nuvjeet Manjana.