Mechanic Testifies He Told Giants Stadium Officials About Escalator Danger

An escalator mechanic at Giants Stadium testified during a deposition that he notified supervisors numerous times about overloading before an escalator wreck at the stadium injured eight people four years ago.

The escalator accident happened on Dec. 29, 2007, in which one patron lost his right leg and several others suffered injuries.

RECORD FILE PHOTO
The escalator accident happened on Dec. 29, 2007, in which one patron lost his right leg and several others suffered injuries.
A top executive at the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority later testified in court that he was not told about escalator overloading until the accident on Dec. 29, 2007, in which one patron lost his right leg and several others suffered injuries.

The eight plaintiffs sued the sports authority and Schindler Elevator Corp., alleging that they failed to properly maintain the escalators and ensure the safety of riders. Schindler settled its claim Monday, the first day of the trial in Superior Court in Hackensack, while the case proceeded against the sports authority.

In a video of a deposition that was played to jurors Wednesday, Tom Scairpon said that he has been an escalator mechanic for 24 years, and that the escalators at the now-demolished stadium often shut down automatically when too many people got on them.

“And too many people in your mind is how many people?” an attorney asked Scairpon.

“When there’s not an empty step, that’s too many people,” he said.

Scairpon said that he told “everyone that would listen” – from stadium guards to top officials at the sport authority – that overloading was a problem.

Asked what he thought was the cause of the accident, he said, “I think it was overloading.”

James Minish, vice president of operations at the sports authority, later testified in court that he was never told escalator overloading was posing a safety hazard at the stadium.

“The first I heard of overloading was after the accident,” he said.

Had he been informed about the problem, he would have shut down the escalators immediately and would have launched an inquiry, he said.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys told jurors on Monday that thousands of football fans were leaving the stadium that day after the Giants’ loss to the New England Patriots when one of the escalators malfunctioned.

The escalator picked up speed, causing riders to tumble forward and pile up on top of one another at the bottom, they said. The steel stairs at the bottom of the escalator cracked and became dislodged from their tracks, leaving a gap big enough to trap riders’ legs, they said.

One of the riders, Michael Harris, was trapped in the opening for about a half-hour before he was extricated and taken to a hospital, one of the attorneys, Michael Noonan said.

Harris underwent several operations before his right leg was eventually amputated below the knee, Noonan said.

Another patron, Joseph Capuano, suffered a similar fate and is still being treated for an injured right foot, said Larry Bendesky, another plaintiff attorney.

Giants Stadium was torn down in 2010 and replaced by the MetLife Stadium.

The trial is scheduled to continue Thursday.