CHICAGO (CBS) — Do you carefully watch where you step every time you get on an escalator? A 7-year-old suburban boy, whose first love is hockey, wonders if he’ll ever play again after a freak accident on an escalator at Midway airport.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine says it might have been preventable had the escalator at Midway, like those at O’Hare, met the most recent safety recommendations.
State of the art, when it comes to escalator safety, is a thin strip of brushes running up and down alongside the moving steel steps of an escalator.
“It’s a warning,” the injured boy’s family attorney said of the brushes. “If it’s not lubricated, your foot gets sucked in like that.”
That’s what happened to young Anthony Rosalia, who had come to Midway with his parents. Holding his mother’s hand, riding down this escalator which didn’t have those brushes.
Or, the family says, the slippery surface now recommended.
“We’ve inspected the escalator,” attorney Martin Dolan said. “And it’s our opinion based on that inspection that it was not properly lubricated, at a minimum.”
About a third of the way down, Anthony’s sneaker caught between the stair and the side, and literally ripped apart; the steel stair then cutting into his foot.
A doctor saw it happen, hit “emergency stop”, and rushed to help, or it could have been even worse.
“He has catastrophic injuries to his foot,” Dolan said. “It’s very likely there could be amputation of certain parts of his foot. He’s a little hockey player and he’s dealing with the fact that he may never play hockey again.”
Chicago’s Aviation Department spokesman says it’s the first accident ever on Midway escalators.
She points out that the escalators at O’Hare have already been fitted with the deflector brushes, aimed at preventing injuries.
Nationwide, thousands of children are hurt on escalators every year; most from falls, but many when hands, feet or clothing become trapped.
While the Department of Buildings’ report on this accident “found no violations,” Dolan says the city and its contractors dropped the ball.
“These are simple precautions to take particularly at a major airport in a major city with so many passengers every day,” Dolan said.
CBS 2 is told the first of the deflector brushes will be installed on escalators at Midway airport this weekend.
Too late for Anthony, who still has nightmares, his mother says, and is now watching Olympic hockey on TV, hoping someday he’ll be able to get back on the ice.
CBS 2 Political Producer Ed Marshall contributed to this report.
Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services