A horse-drawn carriage ride through Kansas City’s Christmas lit Country Club Plaza was a date 20 years in the making for a Topeka couple.
“He finally got my hint,” said 55-year-old Richell Baldwin of her 52-year-old husband Richard.
The two were joined by Richell’s brother and sister-in-law Shawn and Mary Paletta for the 8pm ride.
“It started off great. We were all just so excited and looking at all the stores,” said Richell Baldwin.
But the carriage ride started to go off track about 5 minutes in when their horse “Tiny” reached the intersection of 47th and Broadway.
“The horse didn’t want to stop for the pedestrians. It was walking out into the crosswalk,” said Richell. “We had a stop light and it wouldn’t stop for the driver.”
The Baldwins say Tiny started a full speed gallop once they hit a downhill stretch of Broadway, rushing through multiple red lights at major intersections as the coachwoman kept trying to stop the runaway horse.
“[Nichols Rd] was full of pedestrians, a red light, cars going through and we were thinking ‘Oh my goodness no,’” said Richard.
The ride came to an abrupt end about 15 minutes after it begin at Ward Parkway when Tiny slammed into a rail on the southwest corner of the intersection. The impact ejected the coachwoman down an embankment where she came to rest on the sidewalk alongside Brush Creek. Four other passengers were still inside the wagon with varying injuries. Tiny was thrashing on the ground.
“[Tiny] had a big gash in its leg. It was just lying there in a mangled mess in all the reigns and harness,” said Richard.
Medics transported the coachwoman and Shawn to St. Luke’s hospital. Moments before the collision he had wrapped his arm around Mary, a move that likely lead to two bones being shattered in his forearm. A likely 3-plus-hour surgery is scheduled to repair the arm using metal plates and screws. Doctors aren’t sure how much use of his arm Shawn will have when he recovers.
According to police, the coachwoman and one other passenger suffered serious injuries. Another passenger's injury was not as serious, and the two other passengers had minor bumps and bruises. The horse was sedated and loaded into a trailer to be treated. Police said the horse will be okay.
“She Saved Lives”
The Baldwin’s describe the coachwoman’s efforts to stop the horse as fearless.
“We knew we were going to go straight into that wall and she was still trying to drive that wagon to her possible peril,” said Richard.
Richell talked with her in the ER before the coachwoman left on crutches.
“She was very tearful, apologetic. She knew it was our first ride,” said Richell. “Very apologetic but I told her she saved a lot of lives.”
New push to ban Plaza carriages
By Sunday, a group called “Animal Action of Kansas City” obtained more than 9,000 signatures on a Change.org petition to ban horse-drawn carriages from operating in the city.
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Brian Abel can be reached at brian.abel@kshb.com.