BOSTON (WHDH) - A Louisiana family is filing a lawsuit against the MBTA and KONE — the company that maintains the station escalators– after a malfunctioning machine threw passengers backwards and shredded their limbs at the MBTA Back Bay Station Sunday night.
The Commuter Rail dropped off hundreds of passengers who had been at the Patriots-Saints game in Foxboro, including a family of four with two young children from New Orleans. As they rode up the escalator to street level, the escalator suddenly began running in reverse, witnesses said.
They suffered “…multiple fractures of the upper and lower extremities; extensive and deep lacerations to the face and head; and other serious injuries,” according to the documents.
All four were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment. At least five more were also transported.
The escalator riders tumbled backward, where the escalator continued to grind them, riders and witnesses said. Sara Aucoin, who was also visiting from New Orleans, was deeply gashed by the stairs.
“I was bleeding. Everyone was bleeding because as the escalator was falling,” Aucoin said “It was grinding us. It was literally like shredding us. It was awful.”
Attorneys now want the busted escalator left alone. They are asking the court to issue a restraining order that will prevent the MBTA or KONE, “… from destroying, tampering or altering evidence,” and allow their expert to inspect and test the equipment.
As riders continue to come and go through the MBTA, they pay little attention to the equipment that is gated off but, the new lawsuit reveals the badly injured family is dealing with “scarring and disfigurement” and simply can not look the other way.
A spokesperson for the MBTA said the incident remains under investigation.
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