WILDWOOD – A police horse was not attacked before falling on the Wildwood Boardwalk over the Fourth of July weekend, authorities said, disputing a viral social media claim that sparked hundreds of angry and racist comments.
Wildwood Police Chief Joseph Murphy said the horse simply lost its footing on a metal surface and that neither the animal nor its rider was hurt.
“There was no assault on the horse,” Murphy told Jersey Shore Online. “It slipped on a metal grate on the boardwalk. The horse and rider were not injured.”
The incident gained widespread attention after Jersey Coast Emergency News, a monetized Facebook page with more than 428,000 followers, shared the video July 5 with the claim that “thugs attacked a police horse.”
The video initially appeared on a Facebook page operated by Wildwood digital creator Brian Foster before being reposted by Jersey Coast Emergency News with its own wording.
The footage does not show the horse slipping. It begins as the mounted officer and horse fall into view.
The horse is then seen regaining its footing as people nearby react. Several young people can be heard laughing before officers direct the crowd to continue moving.
Many commenters said the video did not support the claim that anyone attacked the horse. Some said the young people appeared to be reacting to the unexpected fall and did not touch or kick the animal.
“I saw kids acting like kids and a police horse slipping on a wet boardwalk,” one commenter wrote.
Despite the police chief’s account and the lack of visible contact with the horse, the posts generated hundreds of comments, including racist and threatening remarks directed at the young people shown in the video.
The episode shows how quickly an unverified allegation can spread online when dramatic language is attached to a short video without full context.
Jersey Coast Emergency News has previously drawn criticism over posts that were disputed by people, businesses and organizations involved.
Those posts included unfounded accusations against Brick Little League, allegations about a Central Regional High School teacher, a falsehood about a submarine sighting off the New Jersey coast and a supermarket explosion that police later said did not occur.
A local car dealership also publicly challenged a post involving its business earlier this year. The Ashley Lauren Foundation announced it had ended its relationship with the page.
In the case of the Central Regional teacher, Jersey Coast Emergency News published allegations that he had a sexual relationship with an underage student. An attorney representing the educator later named Meta and Jersey Coast Emergency News in a strongly-worded legal notice connected to the online posts. The allegations have not been established as fact, and it was not immediately clear whether the page’s operators responded to the notice.
