THE LIFT OF LIFE
Subway-fall vic’s kin pushes for elevators
The cousin of Malaysia Goodson — the young mother who died in a subway fall while carrying her baby and stroller — made an emotional plea for better elevator services at an MTA board meeting Wednesday.
“Something has to be done,” a teary-eyed Dontaysia Turner, 27, told the room of MTA honchos. “You put an escalator, an elevator in these stations, you’re probably preventing another accident from happening.”
Turner said her 22-yearold cousin, who died on Jan. 28, might still be alive if there had been a working elevator at the Seventh Avenue B/D subway station in Midtown where she fell.
“We need elevators,” Turner told the room. “You have people with strollers, babies, pregnant, walkers, wheelchairs, anything you can think of struggling up and down these stairs. It’s not right or fair.”
Goodson’s cause of death is still not clear, but the city medical examiner said in January that initial autopsy results suggest a medical episode brought about her fall.
Turner, from East Flatbush, said she wasn’t aware that her cousin had any chronic health issues, and that she’s waiting for the full autopsy report to come back.
“Maybe if there was an elevator, she probably wouldn’t have passed out, or if she would have passed out, she wouldn’t have died,” Turner said.
Goodson’s fatal episode reinvigorated an ongoing conversation about the subway’s lack of elevators.
Only one-quarter of the system’s 472 stations are handicap-accessible.
Transit and disability advocacy groups held protests in the days following her death, calling for immediate action from the MTA.
Turner said her family is still adjusting to life without Goodson, who is survived by her 1-year-old daughter.
“I go through my phone every day just to read our text messages,” said Turner. “We look at that little girl every day and … she asks for her mom every day.”
Turner said she had a conversation with Goodson the day before her death. They made plans to go out with their kids the following weekend.
Goodson’s family never heard from Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials after her tragic fall, Turner said.
“The MTA have not reached out to my family,” said Turner. “They haven’t sent their condolences. Nothing.”
MTA board acting chairman Fernando Ferrer said he regretted not contacting the family, adding that those types of communications are typically done by the police department.
“What happened with Ms. Goodson was unbelievably tragic,” said Ferrer.
“And that’s why we’re doubling our efforts to make your system… a lot more accessible.”