One’s daily commute to work doesn’t usually include coming within inches of one’s life. For one Manhattan man, though, that was quite literally the case recently.
Last December, a 41-year-old Manhattan man fell into a gap between a subway train and a retractable platform at Union Square station on his way to work. Now he plans to sue the subway for injuries he sustained in the fall.
The gap between the train and the platform is known to be overly wide, and the subway has installed a retractable platform to bridge the gap for commuters. Somehow the man ended up falling in between the platform and the subway train, and was unable to pull himself out before the hydraulic platform extended.
When the platform pressed up against the man’s body, it caused severe injuries and lacerations to his internal abdominal organs and crushed both sides of his pelvis. He was caught in the tight space for a half hour before subway workers were able to remove him. The man spent a month in the hospital for the injuries he sustained in the accident.
The man is suing New York City Transit and its parent company Metropolitan Transport Authority, alleging that both agencies were negligent for failing to install safety barriers to prevent commuters from falling and for not providing workers and Union Square station who are trained to remove fallen customers quickly.
The subway station at South Ferry in New York reportedly has a similarly wide gap on its tracks and a retractable hydraulic platform. To deal with the danger of fallen customers there, the subway has installed barriers.
Source: Mail Online, “Man who survived being crushed between train and subway platform to sue for $15m,” Daniel Bates, 20 Jan 2011.
