Kin demand recording of Oculus death

THE FAMILY of a 29-year-old woman who fell to her death from an escalator in the Oculus has asked a judge to order the Port Authority to turn over video of the tragic accident.

Jenny Santos plunged nearly 40 feet from the escalator on Feb. 11 while trying to retrieve a hat from a small ledge.

The accident at the $4.4 billion transit hub at the World Trade Center happened at 5:30 a.m. in front of Santos’ twin sister, Jessica.

In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court late Monday, an attorney for the Santos family, John Tumelty, stated that the Port Authority has rejected requests for the video on grounds that an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Tumelty wrote that the family anticipates filing a wrongful death suit against the Port Authority.

“The video recording is necessary to properly evaluate the matter prior to commencing litigation,” he explained.

A Port Authority spokesman declined a request for comment from the Daily News.

Sources who viewed the video previously told The News that Santos (photo) may have tried to grab the hat — which belonged to her sister — after a security guard refused to help.

The guard, employed by the privately run Allied Universal, told Santos he was unable to leave his post, sources said.

The showed video Santos teetering over a handrail about halfway down the descending escalator and stretching to grab the hat that was a few feet out of reach, sources said. One police source said she was “horsing around” the moment before she fell, mimicking a superhero in flight. “It was pretty gruesome,” the police source said of the head injury Santos suffered upon hitting the marble floor below. An autopsy found that Santos, of Kearny, N.J., had a blood-alcohol level of 0.167, more than twice the legal limit for driving. An escalator safety expert, Patrick Carrajat, previously told The News that an additional 18-inch-wide rail, which costs about $5,000, could have prevented the tragedy.

The escalator at the Oculus is in compliance with safety codes, experts said.

Calls to Tumelty and Jessica Santos were not returned.

The Oculus opened last year, a decade late and double its original estimated cost.

Earlier this month, the skeleton-like white structure designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava leaked water from the roof during heavy rain.

The May 5 leak sent streams of commuters rushing toward the exits.

By the next day, as smaller leaks continued, fresh spackle could be seen on the roof.

Last month, two men suffered minor injuries when an escalator buckled at the Oculus.

It was the same one that Jenny Santos had fallen from.