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Subscribe to RSSAn 88-year-old woman was strangled to death Tuesday after her clothes became tangled in an escalator at a New York train station. WNBC-TV's Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
An 88-year-old woman was strangled to death when her clothes got tangled in the treads of an escalator she was riding at the Long Island Rail Road station in Lindenhurst Tuesday, officials say.
"A preliminary investigation and autopsy concluded that the woman fell on the escalator, her clothing became entangled and she was asphyxiated," LIRR spokesman Sam Zambuto said in a statement.
The victim was identified as Irene Bernatzky of Lindenhurst, whom neighbors described as healthy and sprightly for her age. She often walked to the train station from her house and frequently visited her daughter, who lives in Manhattan.
That's where she was headed Tuesday afternoon when she fell on the escalator, according to neighbors.
"Every day, we'd see her walking up and down the block," said neighbor Gerri Hewitt, describing Bernatzky as a "friendly" and "lovely" woman who knew all the neighborhood children's names.
Regular commuters at the Lindenhurst station told NBC New York the escalator often seemed to be out of service and mentioned issues with the handrails, but LIRR officials said Wednesday the escalator has been inspected monthly and is maintained in "good operating condition."
Read the original story on NBCNewYork.com
The last inspection of the escalator before Tuesday happened on Feb. 9, according to a service log. During a maintenance procedure that day, mechanics replaced a broken upper-left comb plate.
The escalator was installed 18 years ago, in 1994. While the service time for an escalator typically ranges from 20 to 25 years, this one was marked for an early replacement, according to Zambuto. The project fell through when budget cuts shifted the priority to even older escalators.
The escalator remained out of service Wednesday, and MTA police were continuing to investigate.
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Leave a Comment:
They have those big red stop buttons too. Sad.
To have made it to 88 yrs old in good health, what a tragic way to die.
SI
I'd rather die that way then the 80 year old lady in yesterday's paper who's throat was slit by an illegal immigrant she tried to help. That story disappeared from the webpage very quickly.
If the clothes had already been constricted to the strangulation point, the stop button wouldn't have helped.
A quick-thinking bystander with a knife might have been able to cut her free, but it would depend on exactly how it happened. It might have been impossible without also cutting her.
A friend of mine at work once saw a toddler get her hand stuck in an escalator. She described it as "blood everywhere" but couldn't tell how badly the little girl was hurt.
I've always been nervous around those things. They have enough horsepower to lift thousands of pounds of humans without so much as slowing down. They're essentially exposed, powerful, moving machinery. I know they've been made as safe as possible, but at some point it's impossible to make them safe and still work properly.
Sometimes you can't reach the stop button depending on how you're caught and you can't always depend on someone stepping in to help you. However, comments below state that there are no stop buttons on this particular escalator.
My condolences to the woman's family.
Just the other day, I stopped to tie my shoe before getting on an escalator. People don't realize you're essentially stepping on to a giant meat grinder when you get on one of those things. Under those stairs are chains and gears that can rip you to shreds.
Yeah Chris, but that's for the repair person to worry about...
Though a very sad story & my heart goes out to her family & friends, it nonetheless brings to mind an escalator incident I witnessed a couple of weeks earlier.
I was in a Nordstrom & witnessed an escalator, with a lady wearing an Obama t-shirt on it, stop about half way to the next floor. She screamed for help, while others including myself just stood around & stared at her. She was finally rescued about 15 minutes later.
FXSTC - good work on your part. way to be an awesome person.
standing and staring is always admirable.
You're an idiot, FXSTC, bringing a STUPID attempt at political joke onto this thread.
Hope Karma catches up with you on your next escalator ride.
This is such an urban tale type of thing.
I can't believe it actually happened. Poor lady.
Glad to know you're not a conservative, FXSTC. Otherwise, you'd have stolen her purse, kicked her to the bottom of the escalator, and then criticized her for being injured and poor.
FXSTC, your post reeks of boo hoo crying.
i guess, a stairway to heaven is a better way than being dragged or choked..really, my heart bleeds for this woman..a terrible way to die..
Actually, it's not.
Escalators injure quite a few people and kill some each year.
You know what really likes to get sucked up into escalators? People wearing Crocs. That rubber gets caught really easily.
Saw a kid wearing a pair of children's Crocs get his foot sucked up the escalator at a mall. They about had to amputate his foot due to the damage done.
Post #1.13 makes me chuckle a little to imagine what it would be like if you're killed on an escalator, and then St. Peter tells you, "Right this way, please..." and you turn to find out that the "stairway to Heaven" is actually another escalator.
Escalators don't scare me, but I kind of think they're for fat people. Why do you get on an escalator and STOP in your own tracks? It's a moving STAIRway--it's okay to walk on it. Yeah, there might be a few folks with bad hips or knees that for good reason prefer to just ride the thing up, but come on. most people just need to get some exercise.
I'm always amazed to see how many stairways there are in other countries with old folks making their way up them with their canes in hand, not seeming to be inconvenienced one bit. Once you plop your fat old but into one of those Hoverounds, it's all over for you. You've checked out already.
Should have taken the stairs...
And....ta da! ...you have it! Budget cuts killed an 88 year old woman. Ya right. MSNBC can never resist.
@Chris-629698
He would have only stolen her purse to recover the money that Obama stole from him and gave to her.
it's too bad they don't have a sensor at the edge where the tread slips under the step at the end, so if something trips it the escalator stops. Seems like a fairly simple fix that would stop a lot of injuries. If it were even an 1/8th inch in, it wouldn't cut the shoe through, or pull much cloth in before stopping. A simple tiny laser or light, like our garage doors have. I think if I had a family member hurt, I might sue, and have that safety feature listed in my formal complaint. Wouldn't even need to win much money for every single escalator in America to be retrofitted within weeks. Businesses would be scrambling to install that fix.
escalators kill people
Very good question, where did this story go? Hmm, this was collapsed by this moronic community; I guess some cry fowl only when it suits their hypocritical, overtly biased point of view.
" And she's buuuuyyying the staaairway".......
At least she passed quickly.
R.I.P. lady
really? you think so? it takes several minutes to lose consciousness from lack of oxygen. minutes this poor lady spent in absolute terror and no doubt pain.
My comment was that an 80 year old woman had her throat slashed by an illegal immigrant after she tried to help him. That article appeared yesterday.
stop lying if there was such a thing it would at least be on fox news. I suggest you post a link to prove it. Stop spreading lies and hate.
Loose clothing? Anything that isn't close or tight fitting is a hazard when around any moving equipment. When I learned the printing trade 30 years ago my instructor only wore clip on ties. And he instructed anyone with long hair to cut it (girls included) and not to wear any jewelry.
Whew!
A reminder these are powerful machineries and to pay attention.
I am curious as to location and distance of any witnesses. Too many people nowadays are afraid to carry knives, out of concern a cop might be overzealous, but I carry a fairly large, and quite sharp folding knife in my back pocket. Would take very little to cut through several layers of clothing to free a person.
Too sad. RIP lady. I feel for her daughter.
Time to ban escalators.
... and old people too
She could have taken the elevator. Instead, she got the shaft.
Why? An escalator is a transport device designed for carrying people between floors of a building. It's not designed to kill.
My nephew got caught in an escalator before - his father had to work very quickly to rip off the jacket he was wearing that was caught. Almost didn't make it. No one stopped to help and this was in a mall.
Just sayin.
That's a very sad story, DisabledVet. Such a shame that common human decency has become so very rare these days. Glad to hear your nephew wasn't injured, maimed or worse.
Really??? There was NO ONE around the Lindenhurst RR station that could've helped her? I find that highly unlikely...
What could any do short of having a knife to cut the clothing as it was pulling tighter and tighter around her neck? It only takes seconds to suffocate someone, especially someone 88.
To Road Warrior - every escalator I've seen has a Red emergency stop button at the ends of the escalator.
WOW - I have to retract that. Kelly below says that escalator doesn't have any ! Boy, talk about a safety hazard.
Believe me, for the area in question, there was most assuredly a knife nearby. My point is that I didn't see anything about anyone even trying to help her and it sounded like one of those cases where everyone just stands by and watches as something awful unfolds.
Road Warrior dear, you can rip the crap out of clothing if you get a good hold. A little added pressure may have been needed, but it's possible the end result would be her becoming free of the death trap. I know I've ripped good shirts for pieces of fabric [shrug]. I just think people are too dumbfounded anymore when they come across a scene. That and people honestly don't care anymore. Remember old headlines of body of child ran over, and such? Yeah...people are too busy thinking about themselves.
RIP Granny
Sono and NyNy,
I don't think even a knife would have helped. When machinery graps your clothing, it happens really fast. Tearing fabric is one thing. Trying to cut it or tear it by hand as the fabric is being yanked into the machinery, twisting and turning at the same time and getting shorter and shorter as the fabric is drawn into the machinery, is virtually impossible. I have seen similar accidents at industrial sites.
Ties are prohibited in industry plants for a reason. Loose clothing is also discouraged.
@hardyvaguy. This escalator DOES have an emergency stop button, you can see it in the photo.
@underdoug - that's not an emergency stop button. If you watch the video, those are clearly lights. One is red and one is green.
I agree with Sono... why didn't anybody try to help this poor woman?
Anyone see "Mallrats" from the 90's? looks like Brody was right. Those escalators are dangerous!
I once passed by a shut-down escalator that was being worked on and stopped to watch. The repairman started talking to me and expressed his opinion that these things were inherently dangerous... so much so that he and his family avoided them as much as possible.
That kid is playing on the escalator again!
Thank you! This story is tragic, but that's all I could think of.
It's been a while since I've been at one, but the LIRR escalators don't have an emergency stop button. If there were budget constraints that postponed this replacement, I doubt there were funds available to make sure extraordinary safety equipment was available. I don't even think I've ever seen emergency stop buttons at the mall!
WOW - and I just blogged a reply that every escalator I've seen had one. Boy, that's a real safety hazard.
That's pretty absurd. I guess they were waiting for someone to die to justify cost-benefit analysis.
Doesn't the picture in the article show the stop button on the handrail?
How would the emergency stop button have helped if the woman was not at the end of the escalator where the button is found??! Maybe it's time to install an emergency stop STRIP so people can press it in case of an emergency no matter which part of the escalator they are standing on at the moment.
The button is presumably for onlookers, passers by, and good samaritans to actuate. The logistics of protecting a full length stop mechanism, such that you've proposed, from accidental activation basically all the time make it impracticle to even develop.
The existing emergency stops are obvious enough for adults to figure out, and innocuous enough for children to leave alone. Different states also have different requirements for operational control and emergency arrest control of their lifts, and even further to this there are exemptions for existing conditions in locations where these are required, etc.
Escalator accidents happen very quickly, and I would imagine the experience is harrowing enough for the entrapped party that they would not have the place of mind to find and actuate the emergency arrest, even if it was right next to them.
@!$%#e happens - - you're never too old to die.
What a shame.
was she wearing safety glasses?
Off to a more humane world...may she rest in peace.
This story really choked me up.
Poor lady. Rest in peace.
my son when he was younger ~ around 3 or 4 years old ~ had run ahead of me on the escalator. He was down to the bottom when he sat down at the bottom...he had put his hand on ground to push himself back up and where his hand was at, it was at the teeth where the stairs go back under...it ripped the skin off of the palm of his hand. It happened so quickly...it sounds cliche but accidents happen in the blink of an eye. I tell my younger daughters that story so they know not to mess with an escalator. I just read on the internet recently, on a news site where this boy caught his shoelace in the escalator and it ended up messing up his food really bad...in fact, google escalators - Crocs. You can pretty much find danger anywhere you look but escalators ARE very dangerous machines. It's not a jungle gym for kids to play on.
Oh my gosh - how terrible!!! Poor thing! I feel so bad for her relatives!
Pretty sad.
This kind of accident happened a lot with those ugly soft-rubber Croc "shoes" that were so popular a few years ago. The rubber was so gooey that the shoes would regularly get jammed up between the steps of escalators as the steps collapsed.
Funny how they won't allow comments on the Goldman Sachs article or anything else the establishment is ashamed of. They said Goldman Sachs was too fat to fail well now we are going to shove it in the trash bin!
Because of a letter from some disgruntled employee that hit the Times? Seriously, who didn't know that this was the culture at GS? As far as anyone inside the firm is concerned - good riddance to him. I hardly believe the fallout from a little bad press is going to shove them "in the trash bin."
I guess it was her final destination
I have been on escalators many times over of a period of 50 or so odd years, and have often thought of whether these conveyances have emergency buttons on them. But, I am ashamed to say that I don't know where they are located.
Would it be helpful if signage were placed on the escalators to inform the public of where these emergency stop buttons are located?
Better yet, how about the escalator doesn't even move unless someone is gripping one of the handrails?
UDunnoBro...excellent thought. You should seel that idea.
"Strangled to death" is redundant, as is "dead body."
Well, I have a sexy body, and it's not dead. So, "dead body" might not be so redundant.
Huh? I have a body and it isn't dead. And people have been strangled, but survived.
My body is manly, and is not dead.
Crazy.
Sounds like yet another clip for the "1000 Ways to Die".
Others weren't responsible for this poor lady's death, but bad escalator etiquette isn't helpful, safety-wise. I once came down on a crowded escalator, only to see the woman ahead of me get off with her baby carriage and shopping bags, and stop right at the bottom of the escalator to "arrange" things. We nearly had a people pileup. In another instance, a couple thought it would be cute to each take their toddlers hand and "walk" him down the "up" escalator. I've been on an escalator that stopped abruptly, and on another one that stopped and changed directions abruptly. I use stairs now whenever possible. Some have suggested having a visible "stop" button that passengers could hit in an emergency. Just imagine the "hit and run" fun that some idiots would have with that.
Oh how terrible! The poor woman. I hope she went quickly! I think I will use the stairs whenever possible. Just a few months ago, in NYC , a woman was killed by an elevator. I am always afraid to get on either of them. Escalators and elevators.But sometimes you have to use them. I like to walk, but not up numerous flights of stairs!
Hey there Nurse if yer "hot n naughty" i could use a "special" "draining job" from you......
yeah that just shows american laziness, stairs are never used, but there can be a 2 hour wait for an elevator or escalator amercians are that lazy, i bet she was just too fat or maybe too lazy to do anything figured it was less work to die than take off a shirt.
Nurse- You are scared of elevators and escalators? You need to seek help......right now!
You are more likely to die walking up or down stairs in your own home than you are using public elevators or escalators.
No, Todd -651965, I'm not really afraid of escalators or elevators. I use them everyday at work. I should have said I am cautious on them. I am cautious on my stairs here at home,too. I'd rather use the stairs when I can for the exercise. It's no big deal to walk up a few flights!Also, Morlack, get a life. I'm a nurse, not a prostitute.