Mohawked mayor thrown from galloping horse during filming of tourism commercial

Paparazzo-turned-mayor Darryn Lyons was thrown from a bolting black stallion and injured by his mayoral chains during the filming of a tourism commercial. Lyons, who was elected the mayor of the city of Geelong in Victoria, Australia, last year, was tossed from the animal while wearing his full mayoral regalia of robes and chains. Onlookers watched horrified as the mayor tried to get control of the horse as his robes flapped and his gold chains bounced on his chest.





His media officer, Sarah Gleeson, who was on the scene on 13th Beach at the time, said it was very scary with the Mayor lucky to have survived. “No sooner had he got on the horse than it took off,” she said. “It was all very sudden. He’s an experienced rider but the black stallion just took off. We could see the flailing robes and then the horse got into deep soft sand and its front legs collapsed and there was a massive cloud of sand as the Mayor was thrown over (the horse’s) head.”





Ms Gleeson and the film crew ran down the beach to where Cr Lyons was on the ground. “He had blacked out I think and initially he was seeing triple,’’ Ms Gleeson said. “He was very dazed.” The director of the film, Ryan Chamley, said the whole incident had happened at whirlwind pace. “The second he got on the horse it took off,” Mr Chamley said. “It must have been the robes that spooked the horse. It just bolted. He (Cr Lyons) was pretty shaken up and didn’t get up for a while.”


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The mayoral chains, weighing a substantial 5kg, hit Cr Lyons hard in the face, leaving him with cuts close to his eye. The Mayor was not wearing a helmet at the time. The plan had been for the horse to be stationary with the mayor in the saddle talking up the virtues of the Geelong region. “This was purely just going to be a piece to camera,’’ Ms Gleeson said. Once the horse had thrown Cr Lyons it continued galloping along the sand until handlers, who had driven to catch up with the horse, were able to catch and quieten him. The horse did not sustain any injuries. Cr Lyons was checked out by a doctor who diagnosed mild concussion and strained shoulder and neck ligaments.