Family sues T after bad escalator trip
The Bethay family was returning to Boston from the football game last Sunday and rode the escalator around 6 p.m. when it malfunctioned at Back Bay Station.
A Louisiana family’s trip to watch the New Orleans Saints play the Patriots took a ghastly turn when they boarded an escalator at Back Bay Station that suddenly reversed, throwing them down a flight of treads and “severely” injuring them, according to a new lawsuit they filed against the MBTA and service operator Kone Inc.
Karson and Holly Bethay of Metairie, La., filed the suit
Thursday in Suffolk Superior Court, on behalf of themselves and their two children.
“The Bethay family sustained multiple injuries as a result of the escalator’s malfunction and failure, including multiple fractures of the upper and lower extremities; extensive facial, scalp, head and body lacerations and other injuries,” the negligence claim reads.
The Bethay family was returning to Boston from the football game last Sunday and rode the escalator around 6 p.m. when it malfunctioned at Back Bay Station. Boston Emergency Medical Services said nine people were injured by the escalator failure, and multiple ambulances transported them to nearby hospitals “with injuries reported to be minor in nature.”
The Bethay family went to Massachusetts General Hospital for care after the incident, according to the claim, which counters that their injuries were “severe.”
Aside from compensation for their personal injuries, the Bethay family attorneys are seeking a temporary restraining order to block the MBTA and escalator service vendor Kone Inc. from interfering with the escalator while the family’s expert investigates the scene.
“In order to formulate his opinions, the expert needs to inspect, examine, and test the escalator and its parts before post-incident repair are made to the escalator,” the claim reads.
The Bethay family’s lawyers assert that without the temporary restraining order in place, the MBTA and Kone Inc. could “intentionally or unintentionally” tamper with or alter the escalator, resulting in a loss of evidence for the alleged victims.
The family-appointed expert also seeks to review all service and maintenance records the MBTA holds pertaining to the escalator.
Less than a week before the escalator incident, the MBTA removed a dilapidated staircase from the JFK/ UMass station after a Boston University professor fell to his death climbing the rusted-out stairs. The stairs had been closed for nearly two years, as communicated by a cement barricade and sign in from of the them, according to the MBTA. Officials said they do not know how the 40-year-old BU professor, David Jones, accessed the stairs on Sept. 11, and the fatal incident is under investigation.
Back Bay Station is one of the busiest transportation hubs in Boston, servicing the T’s Orange Line and Commuter Rail lines, in addition to Amtrak train lines.