Dallas Teen Suffers Brain Injury After Being Struck by Police Horse at State Fair of Texas
The family of a teen who was hit by a Dallas police horse at the State Fair of Texas on Tuesday said the 17-year-old sustained a brain injury. Esther Macharia’s family eagerly awaits the annual Texas State Fair.
Specifically, her 17-year-old son, Ian Macharia.
“My son was super, super, excited to be there,” she told me.
Tuesday afternoon, they went to the car show and were about to take a picture with Big Tex when the day took a dramatic turn.
“It was a moment that changed me, changed my family,” she told me.
A Dallas Mounted Officer was patrolling the Big Tex Circle around 3 p.m. when the horse became scared, the State Fair reported Tuesday.
Esther Macharia claimed she turned around to find a Dallas police horse approaching her family.
The officer attempted to retake control, injuring Ian Macharia, according to the Dallas Police Department, and being bucked off the horse.
“There was a police on it but he fell down and so I looked down and my son was right there,” she told me. “He was seizing.” He was experiencing seizures on the ground. Then, after a few seizures, he passed out.”
She said paramedics arrived approximately two minutes later and transported her kid to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with brain damage.
There has been no legal action taken yet, but Esther Macharia has hired an attorney.
“He’s dealing with a lot of pain, you know he has never had seizures,” she told me. “His body ached. He’s perplexed about the whole situation.”
Ramiz Shamieh, the family’s attorney, has asked fairgoers to provide whatever video footage they have of the incident.
“We’re going to take action against the police and we’re going to take action against the state fair,” Shamieh told reporters. “We want to find out exactly why this happened, we want to get justice for this family, and we want to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
“A lot of things could’ve gone wrong at that moment,” Esther Macharia said.
She is concerned about the time it took paramedics to respond, and following this occurrence, she believes the mounted patrol should be withdrawn from the fair.
“What I’ve seen from this incident is that it’s so easy for a horse, which I never thought before, to kill someone instantly,” she told me.
“The safety of everyone at the State Fair of Texas is our number one priority,” the State Fair said in a statement on Tuesday. “We are deeply saddened that a fairgoer and officer were injured … and we hope they make a full recovery soon.”
CBS News Texas reached out to the State Fair of Texas and Dallas police for comment on Thursday. So yet, we have not gotten a response.
