Horse switch probe rocks carriage debate

A city investigation into a Central Park carriage horse driver accused of trying to pass off an older horse with a breathing ailment as a healthy one half its age created fresh uproar yesterday in the debate over the industry's future.

City health officials in March alleged driver Frank Luo of Staten Island altered a hoof ID number in order to present a 22-year-old horse as a 12-year-old one, the Associated Press reported, citing documents from a Freedom of Information request.

Luo yesterday told Newsday he "never switched the horses" and claimed a city veterinarian conducting an inspection confused the two horses.

Dan Mathews, of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the incident shows a ban is warranted. "These people can't be trusted. They've been singing this song and dance over the last few months, pretending they love their horses so much," he said.

Demos Demopoulos, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 553, the carriage drivers' union that opposes a ban, said of Luo:

"If he's found guilty of these accusations, he should be punished to the fullest extent of the law." But Demopoulos said the city's probe proves that "the regulations work."

A separate probe by the consumer affairs department is continuing.

Both Mathews and Demopoulos went to City Hall yesterday to lobby City Council members.

PETA was accompanied by a Tulsa, Okla., couple who were visiting the city last week when they witnessed a carriage horse accident near Central Park.

Stefanie Sinclair and Rodger Curlik, 31, said after a bus spooked the horse, its carriage flipped over, pulling the horse to the ground.

The carriage drivers at the scene didn't unhitch the horse and became angry when Sinclair took photos, she said.

"Their reaction was: we don't want people knowing about this," Curlik said.

The couple told their story to several council members.

Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Queens), a ban foe, said the fallen horse was treated afterward and found to be healthy.