TIMES SQUARE — A police officer and his horse were both injured after the NYPD steed threw its rider to the ground and then galloped through Times Square, police said.
A sergeant with the NYPD's Mounted Unit was riding the horse, named Gunny, near 144 W. 48th St. around 7:20 p.m. Wednesday when a loud banging noise from inside a parked delivery truck startled the animal, police said.
The horse reared up, collided with a vehicle and started running toward Sixth Avenue, throwing the sergeant to the ground, the NYPD said.
After the sergeant, who sustained minor injuries to his shoulder and face, radioed for help, responding officers caught up with the horse after it stopped at West 47th Street and Sixth Avenue, police said.
Gunny sustained a minor laceration to his right foreleg. The sergeant was taken to a local hospital and treated for his injuries, the NYPD said.
