Family of teen hurt by ‘rogue horse’ at State Fair of Texas sues city, fair for negligence
The family of the Princeton teen injured by a spooked police horse at the State Fair of Texas is suing the City of Dallas, the fair and the organizations that oversee Fair Park over allegations of negligence.
Esther Macharia filed the lawsuit in Dallas County on behalf of herself and her 17-year-old son Ian Macharia.
Members of the Macharia family were waiting to pose for photos with the iconic Big Tex statue on Oct. 8 when the unexpected happened, they said.
“Unbeknownst to Esther and her son, a mounted Dallas police officer carelessly (rode) his horse through the crowd with a lax grip on the (reins) and a large cup of iced soda in one hand,” the lawsuit states. “As a result, he lost control of the horse, then spilled his drink on the horse compounding the chaos.”
Ian was trampled by the “rogue horse,” the lawsuit states. He began convulsing on the ground and went into seizures before losing consciousness. Macharia said she thought her son was dying.
Ian’s family told WFAA-TV a few days after the incident that the 17-year-old was experiencing severe headaches and not sleeping well. He suffered a traumatic brain injury in the accident, including a golf-ball sized hematoma, they said.
The mounted Dallas police officer was also injured after being thrown from the horse, but is recovering, the department said.
The lawsuit alleges that the mounted officer was careless in the way he handled the horse, and the City of Dallas “failed to make reasonable and prudent efforts to determine the officer’s ability to safely manage the animal.”
“The City of Dallas owned and possessed the horse in question and owed a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent the animal from injuring others,” the lawsuit states.
Macharia also holds the other defendants, including the State Fair of Texas, Fair Park First and Oak View Group LLC, responsible for the decision to use mounted police.
“It was unreasonably dangerous to have mounted police officers at the fair around Big Tex,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants knew or should have known of the dangers associated with having mounted police in such a crowded area, yet allowed this hazard to persist and failed to warn fairgoers of the danger.”
Macharia is asking for damages of over $1 million for Ian’s medical bills and “her own mental anguish as a bystander to her son’s catastrophic injury,” according to the lawsuit.
A City of Dallas spokesperson told WFAA that the city declined comment “due to pending litigation.”
The Dallas Police Department also declined to comment on whether it is reconsidering its mounted patrol program at the fair, citing “pending litigation,” according to WFAA.
Representatives from the State Fair of Texas and Fair Park First were not immediately available for comment Tuesday, Oct. 22.
