‘He Was Somebody’: Boston Man Dies After Getting Stuck In Escalator, and Video Shows How Many Commuters Looked Down and Kept Walking
A Boston family wants answers after their loved one died in an escalator accident. Now, the video of the incident reveals that the victim was seemingly ignored by passersby.
Steven McCluskey, 40, was heading to the platform at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Davis Station in late February, NBC 10 reported.
Video shows McClusky riding the escalator down early that morning. As he reaches the bottom, he stumbles and falls, and is seen trapped at the end of the escalator for several minutes.
You then see multiple people walk around McClusky’s body before the first responders arrive. One man even stops to check McClusky, but walks away.
Another group of people was seen on the video pulling his legs, but McClusky was unresponsive.
According to security camera footage, McClusky fell at 4:58 a.m. and lay there until around 5:25 a.m., when someone finally stopped to help him. But it was too late.
“The face that his death could have been prevented or avoided, and it wasn’t—I want to know why,” Shannon Flaherty, McClusky’s sister, told NBC 10.
McClusky’s mother told NBC 10 he was a talented carpenter who ran a home improvement business. He was also the father of two young boys.
“He loved building things,” his mother said. “He loved his children and loved being a dad.”
McCluskey’s family told NBC 10 he had been recently struggling with addiction.
“He did his best every single day to show up for the people that he loved in the ways that he could,” Flaherty told NBC 10.
The family said they were told by police that there had been some kind of horrific accident involving an escalator. NBC 10 reported McCluskey was in a coma.
“Where was security? Where were the red coats? They are supposed to be on all the floors from the time it opens to the time it closes,” Flaherty asked NBC 10. “How, at a busy train station, does nobody stop, nobody see him?”
The red coats she is referring to are members of the “Transit Ambassador” customer outreach program. Launched in 2017, the ambassadors are meant to provide information for ticket purchases or route changes.
But security footage showed people stopped, but most did not help.
“How the hell is no one helping????!! So disturbing,” @ms.gabrie11e commented on the video on Instagram.
“When people don’t care enough to push a button…you know we are screwed,” @dh_834 added.
“All they had to do was push the button. What the hell is WRONG with society?” @mariposamilk wrote.
“Those people who didn’t help should be sued for negligence. There’s a button you push to stop it. If they saw what was happening and didn’t help, they should be held accountable and liable,” @kevinkunze commented.
One escalator infrastructure expert told NBC 10 he didn’t think this was acceptable.
“[The MBTA] breached that duty,” he said. “If somebody had knowledge of it, that should’ve been acted upon immediately.”
In a statement to NBC 10, an MBTA spokesperson called the incident a “terrible accident” and said it serves as a reminder to the public that anyone can stop an escalator by pressing the red button at the bottom and the top of each escalator.
“MBTA personnel respond swiftly to all emergencies and do everything they can to assist individuals and secure the situation,” the statement to NBC 10 said.
According to the Somerville Fire Department, a piece of McCluskey’s clothing got caught in the escalator and tightened around his throat.
NBC 10 reported firefighters realized the skin of his back had been pulled into the escalator. They also thought the escalator would need to be dismantled to free McCluskey.
A spokesperson for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office told NBC 10 they are investigating McClusky’s death.
“He was somebody. He had a life. We loved him. They treated him like he didn’t exist,” his mother told NBC 10. “Nobody cared. Nobody stopped. Nobody took the time to help or to make sure he was OK. If somebody took that minute, he would be here today.”