Donald Borchardt said he felt he was in the wrong place at the wrong time Friday night.
That's when a pair of cars came barreling down Peachtree Street, and one of them rear-ended his horse-drawn buggy, injuring his passengers, loosing his horse Christy, and sending him flying.
"It felt like I was propelled out of a cannon," Borchardt said. "I remember coming down on the hood of a car."
The 61-year-old Fayetteville man is now home recovering with six broken ribs, a broken collar bone, a chipped neck bone, and countless bruises up and down the left side of his body.
One of his passengers, 63-year-old Marilyn Compain, remains in serious condition at Grady Memorial Hospital’s intensive care unit while Andrea Rice, 31, and Carol Knieriem, 56, were hospitalized through the weekend with their injuries, Grady officials said.
Borchardt said carriage drivers in Atlanta take great care to make their clients safe and ensure they enjoy themselves.
“I certainly didn’t want their visit here to end with a negative experience,” Borchardt said of the three women in town last week from Nebraska for a child advocacy conference.
The buggy driver said he picked up the three women Friday night on Peachtree Street at Baker Street, and guided his horse Christy slowly along the congested road toward Harris Street.
“For some reason, I felt a big whoosh of air,” Borchardt said. “Then, a big boom behind us. It was one of the worst impacts I believe I ever felt.”
The “whoosh” he felt was one of the drag-racing cars zooming past him along Peachtree. The “boom,” of course, was caused by the Lexus sedan that struck the back of the carriage, splitting it in two.
Borchardt was launched through the air, and tried not to panic.
“All I could think was, just relax … try not to stiffen up,” Borchardt recalled from the moment following the impact.
When he landed, he tried to get up to check on his passengers and his horse.
“But I couldn’t stand up, so I just leaned back on the hood of the car,” he said.
Police arrested and charged a 28-year-old man with following too closely, driving on a suspended license and violating the open container law.
Borchardt said his horse Christy was traumatized. And he is still concerned about Compain, who remains hospitalized.
“I was sad about the lack of reasoning over it, and most sad about the ladies I was carrying,” he said.
What would Borchardt say now to the driver?
“I’d say, son you’ve made a bad decision that could impact your life, those laideis’ lives, my life and my horse’s life,” Borchardt said. “I hope he learns a lesson.”
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