LIRR probes escalator incident in Babylon

Long Island Rail Road officials said they are investigating a "possible injury" Monday on an escalator at the Babylon train station.

"Initial reports indicate the woman was not seriously injured and that she boarded the next westbound train," LIRR spokesman Salvatore Arena said in a statement Monday night, adding the agency is examining the escalator at the Babylon station to see if it is working properly.

The unidentified woman apparently realized she was heading up to the wrong platform for her train, turned around while on the escalator and may have hurt her hand, Arena said.

The report of a possible injury comes three weeks after the death of an 88-year-old woman whose clothing became trapped on an escalator at the Lindenhurst station. Irene Bernatzky died March 13 after she fell on the up escalator at Lindenhurst and was asphyxiated by a piece of clothing that got entangled in the moving steps. Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police continue to investigate that case.

The Lindenhurst and Babylon escalators are among those slated for new technology that includes sensors and monitoring systems.

A witness who went to the woman's aid Monday said clothing had become trapped as the woman was riding up the escalator shortly after 10 a.m.

Kristin Comple, 40, of Babylon, said she was dropping a friend off at the station when she heard screams. Comple ran up the stairs adjacent to the escalator, climbed over the railing and partition to the escalator, and pulled the fabric of the woman's pants from the mechanism, she said. At that point, someone at the bottom of the escalator hit an emergency stop switch to prevent the mechanism from moving forward, she said.

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The woman "must have lost her footing . . . and she fell back," Comple, a massage therapist, said. "You just react. You just go. I was glad I was there to help."

LIRR personnel working at the station assisted the customer, Arena said without providing details. Police were not called.