The man who hit the emergency stop button when a woman became trapped in an escalator knew what to do after seeing the NBC10 Boston Investigators’ report on a man’s death from injuries he suffered at the exact same location.
Guy Dayan stepped onto the escalator at the MBTA's Davis station in Somerville, Massachusetts, just after 7 a.m. on July 31 as he began his daily commute to work.
Within moments, he saw someone trying to climb the steps in reverse and he noticed a commotion. A woman was lying at the bottom of the escalator with her clothing caught inside the machinery.
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WATCH HERESurveillance video the NBC10 Boston Investigators obtained shows Dayan immediately turned around and hustled off the escalator.
During an interview at the Davis station on Wednesday, Dayan said the tragic incident with Steven McCluskey was still at the top of his mind.
As the NBC10 Boston Investigators first reported, McCluskey died after falling and getting trapped inside the same escalator last February.
Surveillance video revealed a procession of passengers strolled past the 40-year-old father of two kids. More than 20 minutes had elapsed when an MBTA employee responded to the scene and pressed the emergency stop button.
By then, McCluskey had been strangled to death by his own clothing.
"You can't believe something like that happens in a place that you walk every day," Dayan said. "You don't want to be the one who's stuck there, and you don't want to be the one who goes by and doesn't know how to react."
That's why Dayan said he made of point of learning where to find the emergency stop buttons in the wake of McCluskey's death. Little did he know, that knowledge would be put the test just a few months later.
As Dayan descended the steps, he could see someone pulling at the woman and trying to free her from the moving escalator.
When he reached the bottom, he pressed the emergency stop button. The surveillance video shows the escalator immediately came to a halt.
Dayan said he could tell the woman was not seriously injured and he could see MBTA employees responding to the scene. Just like that, he disappeared from the surveillance footage.
"I just had to catch a train," Dayan said with a laugh. "I didn't know it was going to be a big news story."
That same night, NBC10 Boston reported on how firefighters responded and cut the victim's clothing to free her from the escalator. She went to the hospital with an injury to her hand, which had been scraped from the teeth of the machinery.
Robert Cotton, an escalator expert with more than 40 years of experience, has seen a lot of accidents tied to escalators. NBC10 Boston asked if the two similar incidents suggest there is a problem with the escalator at the Davis station.
"If you have loose closing or shoelaces or a scarf, any of those kinds of things, laying on the escalator, touching the escalator steps, it probably will get tangled up and probably would happen on any escalator," Cotton said. "It's an unfortunate coincidence that it occurred on this escalator."
A spokesperson for the MBTA said the escalator was inspected immediately after both incidents with no defects defected.
"The escalator was functioning as intended and these cases do appear to be a coincidence," the MBTA said in a statement.
The transit agency also thanked Dayan for his actions and reminded the public that anyone can press the emergency stop buttons located at the top and bottom of every escalator.
As he left the station on Wednesday morning, NBC10 Boston helped connect Dayan with the 68-year-old Somerville resident he helped. Despite a language barrier, the woman expressed her appreciation.
The woman's son, who was with her during the emergency inside the T station, also thanked Dayan for his actions that morning.
"She was traumatized," the son said. "If he didn't push the emergency button, she would've suffered the same fate."
Dayan said he didn't give his actions at the MBTA station much thought, until he spoke with his wife later that day.
"My wife told me immediately, 'You saved her.' You don't think about it like that, but yes, she was saved because of that," Dayan said. "It feels good."
