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Girl could lose toe after escalator accident at Aquarium stop; father says emergency stop button didn't work

NECN reports on the Monday incident involving a girl wearing Crocs. She's at Mass. General now.

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"This was not like a scream I had heard before, so I knew something was definitely wrong," said Kerndt. ... As mom tried to wrestle her daughter free, dad Peter lunged for the emergency kill switch, but he says as he and a T attendant pounded on it, the escalator kept churning. ... Nell's parents say they think the T should post signs at the stations warning parents about the dangers of the escalators and flimsy shoes. The MBTA maintains parents should be extra vigilant when traveling with children.

If the emergency kill switch didn't work, I think this should be investigated as possible criminal negligence.

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The problem is that the escalator people are at fault.....but in the end, it's the tax payer that will pay out for the lawsuit while the escalator company gets away scott free.

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maintenance and repair. It is still the responsibility of the MBTA to insure the escalators operate properly - and that includes the emergency stop.

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Legally, both can be at fault, depending on the facts. It's not an either-or proposition.

MBTA is almost certainly responsible to some extent; but they may be able to spread the blame to the repair/maintenance company (if they failed to do their job propertly) or to the manufacturer (if the escalator itself was defective when made).

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the escalator company has no culpability in this situation, especially it it is proven that the failure of the emergency stop was due to improper installation or lack of maintenance, and was not just a fluke.

However, at the end of the day, the MBTA is still supposed to oversee the work of its contractors and the health of its equipment. Therefore, the MBTA, and not the escalator company, is principally responsible for insuring that its escalators operate properly.

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I think we're in agreement here.

I'm just mainly trying to avoid the debate over whether the MBTA, the escalator maintenance folks, the Crocs, or the parents are at fault. They may ALL be at fault to varying degrees, including the injured girl, if she was doing something stupid while on the escalator.

I do agree that it's unlikely that the MBTA would be clear of fault. But you can imagine situations where they are. If the escalator was repaired the day before, and the escalator repair crew failed to activate the emergency switch, the MBTA might have done nothing wrong and not be responsible at all.

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I think parents are responsible to make sure that their spawn are dressed appropriately for the terrain of the city, and behave appropriately while on the T property. Had the parents bothered make sure that the girl was standing correctly on the machine this tragedy would likely never have happened. You cannot put up a sign warning every idiot of every danger that may or may not await them. Parents...YOU gotta watch your own kids. Everybody already knows about the so called 'dangers of the escalators'...this happens all the time. Shouild the Motel 6 where she was no doubt conceived have put up a sign warning horny heteros that intercourse might result in an unwanted pregnancy? Maybe the Target store where they buy their outfits should've had a sign warning shoppers that Crocs are not now, nor have they ever in fashion, and they are flimsy, poorly made, and should never be worn on the feet. Stop blaming the world for things that are your fault.

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Really.

Oh please.

Really.

Um, doesn't a designer, manufacturer, or installer of escalators have ANY responsibility to design a product that will NOT hurt people wearing common types of shoes in your world?

Oh, but they REPRODUCED therefore THEY ARE BAD IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE. That's what this is about, right?

I'll make things simple for ya - HATERZWORLD is over here

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"THEY ARE BAD IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE." . . . you said it, swiney girl, not me. That may be the way you think, but it is not the way I think. You really need to come down from your lonely ivory tower and meet a man or something. I think I know what it is you need,

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You are a hater. If you weren't on this "gay never does wrong" rampage I bet you'd be out there with the NOM tour or, more appropriate to your personality, hanging with ol' Freddy Phelps and the Westboro Crew.

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.

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I have yet to meet any person who uses this in connection with human children who is not a major league a******, i.e. "a very not nice person".

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...except that it's common for us folk to refer to our kids as queerspawn. A lot of them refer to themselves as queerspawn as well. Very common word among COLAGE people etc.

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...its like chalk on a blackboard to me.

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They could've said "crotchfruit".

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but the world doesn't stop for your spawn. Nothing changes for the rest of us when you breed, except, in the words of Brodie Bruce "That kid is back on the escalator!" We may be pricks, but you're self-entitled, self-righteous nuisances who hold their wailing children like fleshy vuvuzelas blaring into every public space, monopolize our city's cowpath sidewalks with your Hummer-sized Stroller Utility Vehicles and believe that art films and bars are just as appropriate for your developing lifeform as a tot lot or Gymboree. We'll self-awarely respect the fact that we're absolutely obnoxious in your eyes if you'll except the fact that every time we see you and your slimy, screeching spawn that we're subconsciously willing you to the city's outer fringes or the suburbs.

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Amazing how many stereotypes you managed to fit into one paragraph. We may be pricks, but you're self-entitled, self-righteous nuisances who struggle to hold onto their wailing boy/girlfriends like fleshy vuvzelas blaring into every public space, monopolize our city's cowpath sidewalks with your Hummer-sized backpacks and believe that apartment buildings and condos are just as appropriate to your drunken need to bellow your brains out and smash things as some Quincy Market bar. We'll self-awarely respect the fact that we're absolutely obnoxious in your eyes if you'll accept the fact that every time we see you and your slimy, screeching roommates that we're subconsciously willing you to go back to Lawn Guyland.

Hey, that was easy!

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... every time you spew hate like this.

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... the "fleshy vuvuzelas" line is pretty good, though, especially for such an ignorant prick.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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Easily the worst conceived, least pragmatic shoe ever. It was only a matter of time.

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But what's the point of emergency stop buttons if they don't work? Wasn't that just supposed to be a one-off joke in Spaceballs?

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nothing works!"

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Crocs are dreadful. Wouldn't be caught dead in a pair, or in flip flops or wobbly heels. In order to function well in this world, I believe a solid, secure pair of tie shoes are required. Make mine a pair of high red All-Stars, thank you. Power shoes.

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Crocs + Escalators = Playing with fire. I mean, there's videos, pictures, news stories...hell, GMA did a segment on it.

Sure, the emergency stop didn't work. That's the *second* problem with the situation.

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Jesus Christ- the girl is only eight. Can't we reserve the smarmy Darwin crap for grownups, at least?

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The blame lies squarely on the parents for allowing their daughter to wear the shoes. I see kids that age out playing all the time in crocs. They are not an appropriate shoe for a kid to be walking the city or playing. The fact that the emergency stop didn't work is pretty ridiculous. There will be a well deserved lawsuit.

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So very much better for her to wear footwear that doesn't work for lots of walking. After all, nobody ever died from infected blisters, right?

(FTR, my kids were teva devotees, fortunately)

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> After all, nobody ever died from infected blisters, right?

8 days in the hopsital and another 3+ weeks at home on IV antibiotics....

;~{

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Natural selection only works if you stop the genes before they have a chance to propagate. Besides, it's more a commentary on the parents and their ability to pass on their genes safely than it is the child (as was already stated by someone else).

I don't expect the kid to know better or have read all of the news on crocs before getting on an escalator.

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The company has a shop in the Faneuil Hall complex: http://locations.crocs.com/boston-ma/crocs-faneuil... about thisfar http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&g... from the Aquarium T. Just a coincidence, but it's like having an umbrella shop next to the Museum of Lightning.

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"Man, there's not a year goes by, not one year, that I don't here about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid that could have easily been avoided if some parent, I don't care which one, but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator!"

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"Oh, it's a sailboat."

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That kid... is back... on the escalator again!

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Read recently that multiple people strangle each year when their raincoat belts get caught in the escalator. The belts are really strong and don't break. Don't let the belt hang, tie it in the back.

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