Atlanta, Georgia Personal Injury Lawyer
Atlanta personal injury lawyer blog
Saturday, January 23, 2010
How Did a Child Fall Down a MARTA Elevator Shaft in Atlanta?
Monday, June 15, 2009
MARTA Driver Caught Driving While Texting is Part of a Trend
On Monday a 5-year-old boy fell 15 feet down an elevator shaft at the Kensington Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) station in Atlanta. The boy escaped serious injury. He was conscious and alert when firefighters rescued him using a wire basket.
DeKalb County Fire Captain Eric Jackson said, "Remarkably, consider the fall and what could have happened, the child was not hurt seriously."
The young boy was taken to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and released after evaluation. However, his parents took him back to the hospital on the same day after he told them he was having headaches. He was released again later in the evening.
According to Jackson, the child was on the second floor of the MARTA station and leaning again the elevator door "when the door somehow became disengaged or opened, and that's when the child fell.”
“He fell onto the top of the elevator car," reported Jackson
Jackson said that the rescue operation was challenging: "but we were basically able to use some ladders to get the firefighters down there, get the child secured, and bring him back up on a Stokes basket."
A Stokes basket is a metal wire basket used for rescue missions in confined spaces.
The incident happened around 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning. MARTA spokeswoman Cara Hodgson said that MARTA officials are investigating the accident.
CBS Atlanta News questioned MARTA officials about the accident. Tim Eason, the escalator and elevator manager at MARTA, said, "We know doors did swing in but at this point we don't know why.”
"When doors typically function, they slide from left to right. How would they push in?" asked a reporter?
"They slide side to side," said Eason, "and normally they shouldn't go in or out. It's a very unusual situation."
According to Eason, the elevator in question had been recently inspected by a maintenance contractor on January 4 and by a MARTA inspector on January 11. He said that other MARTA elevators and escalators have been checked and are safe.
However, the question still remains: What kind of malfunction occurred that allowed the weight of a five-year-old boy to cause an elevator door to swing in? If it turns out that the boy sustained injuries during the fall – for instance, if the headaches were a sign of a traumatic brain injury – then the boy’s family would likely have a good case against MARTA. Like all property owners, MARTA officials have the responsibility of making sure that the property is properly maintained and safe for visitors. Property owners have a legal obligation to alert visitors about known safety hazards.
Have you been injured at a place of business due to a safety hazard? If so, contact an experienced Atlanta premises liability attorney as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
DeKalb County Fire Captain Eric Jackson said, "Remarkably, consider the fall and what could have happened, the child was not hurt seriously."
The young boy was taken to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and released after evaluation. However, his parents took him back to the hospital on the same day after he told them he was having headaches. He was released again later in the evening.
According to Jackson, the child was on the second floor of the MARTA station and leaning again the elevator door "when the door somehow became disengaged or opened, and that's when the child fell.”
“He fell onto the top of the elevator car," reported Jackson
Jackson said that the rescue operation was challenging: "but we were basically able to use some ladders to get the firefighters down there, get the child secured, and bring him back up on a Stokes basket."
A Stokes basket is a metal wire basket used for rescue missions in confined spaces.
The incident happened around 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning. MARTA spokeswoman Cara Hodgson said that MARTA officials are investigating the accident.
CBS Atlanta News questioned MARTA officials about the accident. Tim Eason, the escalator and elevator manager at MARTA, said, "We know doors did swing in but at this point we don't know why.”
"When doors typically function, they slide from left to right. How would they push in?" asked a reporter?
"They slide side to side," said Eason, "and normally they shouldn't go in or out. It's a very unusual situation."
According to Eason, the elevator in question had been recently inspected by a maintenance contractor on January 4 and by a MARTA inspector on January 11. He said that other MARTA elevators and escalators have been checked and are safe.
However, the question still remains: What kind of malfunction occurred that allowed the weight of a five-year-old boy to cause an elevator door to swing in? If it turns out that the boy sustained injuries during the fall – for instance, if the headaches were a sign of a traumatic brain injury – then the boy’s family would likely have a good case against MARTA. Like all property owners, MARTA officials have the responsibility of making sure that the property is properly maintained and safe for visitors. Property owners have a legal obligation to alert visitors about known safety hazards.
Have you been injured at a place of business due to a safety hazard? If so, contact an experienced Atlanta premises liability attorney as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Labels: atlanta, Atlanta injury lawyer, child safety, fall, MARTA, premises liability
A recent picture posted on the popular social networking site Twitter showed a MARTA driver using his cell phone to send a text message while the train he was supposed to be attending was in motion.
Concerned about safety on the train, Matthew Jones, a regular MARTA commuter, snapped the photo on his cell phone. According to Johnson, he thought he saw the driver texting as he entered the train and so he decided to sit in a spot on the train where he could view the driver. Jones told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that he had noticed a MARTA operator reading a book a few months earlier and wished that he had said something at the time.
“When I saw him pick up his phone again, I picked up my camera and waited for him to turn away, because he was definitely looking to see who was looking,” Jones told the AJC.
Andrea Coleman, spokesperson for MARTA, said the operator would be placed on administrative leave with pay until an investigation could be carried out, and MARTA later released a statement that “The safety and security of our patrons is MARTA’s first and foremost concern. Texting while operating a MARTA vehicle is against company policy… appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken upon the conclusion of the investigation.”
But with the photo evidence, is an investigation enough? This discovery comes on the heels of two mass transit accidents involving drivers distracted by texting. A Los Angeles Metrolink operator was texting last year and became so distracted that he allowed the train he was operating to run through a stop signal and crash into another train. The accident resulted in 25 deaths, including the driver himself, and injuries to 138 people.
Another incident, in Boston, was blamed on driving while texting. Forty nine people were injured in a trolley accident when one driver, who was sending a text message to his girlfriend, rear-ended a second trolley. As a result, both trolleys were derailed and passengers were tossed about the trolley’s carriages. None of the injuries were considered life threatening.
The MLN Law Blog recently explored driving while texting when it comes to teenagers. But it’s clear that adults are guilty of this behavior, too. Encourage your friends and loved ones to practice safe behavior when driving and refrain from driving while texting.
The “MARTA Operator Driving While Texting” story was just one example of the many news stories that are broken on Twitter every day. If you don’t follow MLN Law on Twitter, check us out at www.twitter.com/mlnlaw.
For more on this story
MARTA to probe texting report MARTA probes photo of train operator texting, Atlanta Journal Constitution
Concerned about safety on the train, Matthew Jones, a regular MARTA commuter, snapped the photo on his cell phone. According to Johnson, he thought he saw the driver texting as he entered the train and so he decided to sit in a spot on the train where he could view the driver. Jones told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that he had noticed a MARTA operator reading a book a few months earlier and wished that he had said something at the time.
“When I saw him pick up his phone again, I picked up my camera and waited for him to turn away, because he was definitely looking to see who was looking,” Jones told the AJC.
Andrea Coleman, spokesperson for MARTA, said the operator would be placed on administrative leave with pay until an investigation could be carried out, and MARTA later released a statement that “The safety and security of our patrons is MARTA’s first and foremost concern. Texting while operating a MARTA vehicle is against company policy… appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken upon the conclusion of the investigation.”
But with the photo evidence, is an investigation enough? This discovery comes on the heels of two mass transit accidents involving drivers distracted by texting. A Los Angeles Metrolink operator was texting last year and became so distracted that he allowed the train he was operating to run through a stop signal and crash into another train. The accident resulted in 25 deaths, including the driver himself, and injuries to 138 people.
Another incident, in Boston, was blamed on driving while texting. Forty nine people were injured in a trolley accident when one driver, who was sending a text message to his girlfriend, rear-ended a second trolley. As a result, both trolleys were derailed and passengers were tossed about the trolley’s carriages. None of the injuries were considered life threatening.
The MLN Law Blog recently explored driving while texting when it comes to teenagers. But it’s clear that adults are guilty of this behavior, too. Encourage your friends and loved ones to practice safe behavior when driving and refrain from driving while texting.
The “MARTA Operator Driving While Texting” story was just one example of the many news stories that are broken on Twitter every day. If you don’t follow MLN Law on Twitter, check us out at www.twitter.com/mlnlaw.
For more on this story
MARTA to probe texting report MARTA probes photo of train operator texting, Atlanta Journal Constitution
Labels: driving and texting, MARTA, reckless driving
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