The New Jersey Olympian accused of shooting his equestrian trainee says the 2019 incident never should have happened, blaming the US Equestrian Federation for failing to act on complaints about the victim’s allegedly abusive behavior.
The nation’s governing body for competitive horse riding fielded reports about the allegedly unhinged Lauren Kanarek from at least three women more than a year before the bloody shooting on dressage coach Michael Barisone’s 60-acre farm in Long Valley, he said in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court.
Kanarek, 44, survived being shot in the chest. Barisone, 61, was arrested but eventually acquitted of attempted murder by reason of insanity — apparently successfully arguing that the woman’s disturbing behavior impacted him mentally.
He had appealed to the federation for help with Kanarek in the weeks before the August 2019 incident to no avail, according to court papers.
“Had they acted in 2018 . . . this would never have happened,” he told The Post. “I would have been warned. Had they suspended her legally per the code, I would not have been able to teach her.
“It’s a tragedy all the way around.”
An alternate member of the 2008 Olympic team in Beijing, Barisone began working with Kanarek in March 2018 at his Loxahatchee, Florida facility.
He later agreed to let her and her boyfriend, Robert Goodwin, live in a vacant apartment on his New Jersey farm while she continued training.
Barisone was unaware of the complaints lodged against Kanarek with USEF, including one allegedly from a woman who claimed Kanarek had tormented her over the death of her young son years earlier.
“I lost a child in 1999, and Lauren sends me comments advising me . . . that I murdered my son,” the victim told USEF, according to the Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit. “My son drowned, witnessed by many, and I am sickened by this girl’s nature.”
Paralympian Robin Breuckmann, who once gave Kanarek riding lessons, claimed she “made very abusive, threatening, and vulgar statements” and posted threats about her on social media.
USEF didn’t respond to Breuckmann, Barisone alleged in court papers.
A woman who worked as Kanarek’s assistant also reported abuse to USEF, the suit claims.
“Had sanctions, or a lifetime ban been imposed upon Kanarek in 2018 or 2019 . . . the August 7, 2019, incident would never have happened,” Barisone said in the lawsuit.
Kanarek spent her “entire adult life…as [a] heroin addict,” and chronically abused prescription meds, he contended in the legal filing, which seeks unspecified damages.
She and Goodwin repeatedly refused to leave Barisone’s property even after a pipe burst in the building, and “threaten[ed] physical harm to him, his fiancée, his farm, and the horses as well as threaten lawsuits for a host of improbable and absurd reasons,” he said in the litigation.
“Kanarek posted messages stating that [Barisone] was an adulterer, drug addict, pervert, cheat, horse abuser, and thief. All efforts on the part of [Barisone] begging Kanarek to cease her contemptible behavior failed.”
Barisone allegedly warned USEF he feared Kanarek would try to kill him.
“You were told — you have to do something. You can’t do nothing,” he told The Post.
The former coach, who spent 2 1/2 years behind bars before being found not guilty, had faced up to 60 years in prison if convicted of all charges. After the not-guilty verdict he was confined to mental health facilities in New Jersey until November 2023 before being cleared for release.
Kanarek, who did not return messages seeking comment, sued Barisone in October 2019. The case was later dropped, records show.
USEF declined comment on the litigation.
