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Soda spill sparked police horse to trample teen boy: Lawsuit
Left: A teenage boy pictured after he’s trampled by a police horse (court exhibit). Right: the victim identified by family as Ian Macharia in a photo aired on the news (WFAA).
A teenage boy who just wanted to enjoy a day out at the State Fair of Texas with his family members was trampled and seriously injured by a police horse that “ran wild through the crowd” after a mounted Dallas police officer spilled a cup of soda on the equine, a $1 million dollar lawsuit alleges.
Though the lawsuit didn’t identify the minor victim beyond his initials, lead plaintiff Esther Macharia teared up during an on-camera interview with local ABC affiliate WFAA when talking about what she, her high school senior son Ian, and her family went through on Oct. 8 and in the days immediately following the boy’s traumatic brain injury.
“It was a moment that changed me, changed my family, changed my life, you know,” she said. “The crowd started screaming. You know, that’s when I turned, I saw the horse run. So my son is on the floor. Everybody now is gathering.”
At the time of the interview, which was two days after the incident, the report said Macharia and her attorney were considering filing a lawsuit. Now they have, naming the City of Dallas and the State Fair of Texas as defendants along with nonprofit Fair Park First and Oak View Group, LLC.
According to the complaint, the Macharia family were “casual fairgoers” who “simply wanted to visit the auto show, enjoy the fair food, and visit Big Tex,” but hopes for a great time were dashed when the police horse went “rogue.”
“Unbeknownst to Esther and her son, a mounted Dallas police officer carelessly road his horse through the crowd with a lax grip on the reigns and a large cup of iced soda in one hand,” the lawsuit said. “As a result, he lost control of the horse, then spilled his drink on the horse compounding the chaos. The animal then ran wild through the crowd.”
Court documents recounted that the mother and family “looked on in horror” after their loved one was trampled, “began convulsing and went in seizure on the cement in front of the State Fair icon” — “eventually completely losing consciousness.”
“Esther screamed and panicked because she thought her son was dying in front of her,” the complaint said, claiming negligence on the part of the City of Dallas because it “owned and possessed the horse in question and owed a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent the animal from injuring others.”
The mounted police officer is accused of not having both hands on the reins and engaging in “willful and wanton disregard for the safety of fairgoers” by spilling soda on the horse and setting off the animal.
The lawsuit said that the victim suffered a “catastrophic injury” and “disfigurement” as a result.
The Dallas Police Department and the City of Dallas have reportedly not commented, citing policy against doing so while litigation is pending.
Macharia’s attorney Ramez Shamieh, for his part, said during an initial WFAA interview that the use of mounted police at the fair seems unnecessary.
“I think it’s a little over the top. I think it’s all for show,” the attorney said.
He would add later that the defendants “don’t have proper protocols in place for these riders.”
“You shouldn’t be carrying a drink at the state fair in one hand and your other hand is or is not supporting the horse,” Shamieh said.
Read the lawsuit here.
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