Each day hundreds of thousands of people use the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, or PATH, to get to school, work, or simply across town to visit friends. Last week, five of those commuters were injured in an escalator accident at the Exchange Place PATH station in New Jersey, reports the NY Daily News.
According to a PATH spokesperson in the article, an ascending escalator suddenly reversed direction and began to descend at around 9:00 a.m., just as the morning rush hour was winding down. Passengers on the escalator panicked and began to scream, causing a stampede at the bottom of the escalator. Some commuters jumped up onto the metal divider between the up and down escalators while others jumped all the way over to the down escalator. Five of those who jumped were injured with injuries ranging from scrapes and bruises to back and neck pain.
After the escalator malfunction, two of the station’s three escalators were shut down causing thousands of commuters to have to walk up the 128 stairs to get to street level. As was the case with many PATH stations, the Exchange Place station suffered serious damage as a result of hurricane Sandy, raising questions surrounding the cause of last week’s escalator malfunction. Authorities are conducting an investigation into the cause of the accident.
Hurricane Sandy devastated the east coast of the United States when the super storm hit at the end of October last year. As the recent escalator malfunction demonstrates, much of the infrastructure throughout the east coast was damaged by the storm and remains in need of repairs. Although authorities have yet to determine whether the damage done by hurricane Sandy is to blame for the escalator accident, we do know that numerous PATH stations were affected by the storm as water surged through the tunnels leaving death and destruction in its wake.
Not surprisingly, one question that often comes up when passengers are injured in a subway, train, or other mass transit accident is “Who is to blame?” The answer depends on the individual facts and circumstances of the accident; however, in some cases the governmental agency that has administrative oversight authority over the system can be held liable for injuries suffered in an accident. Although similar to other personal injury lawsuits, a lawsuit wherein the defendant is a governmental agency requires slightly different procedures, the most important of which is the notification requirement. In most cases, a victim must notify the appropriate agency within a relatively short period of time of the injuries.
If you have been injured in a transit accident, or other personal injury accident, contact the New York/New Jersey accident attorneys at Ginarte Gonzalez Winograd L.L.P., to find out what legal options you may have. For your free consultation simply fill out our online contact form.