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Man falls on Red Line tracks at Park Street; hits head
By adamg on Thu, 07/06/2017 - 5:24pm
T workers, cop tend to man as they await firefighters, EMTs. Photo by KrisKream.
First responders rushed to Park Street shortly after 5 p.m. The man did not come in contact with the third rail, but was knocked unconscious.
Power was shut on the southbound tracks to let firefighters safely get him ready for transport to a local hospital. He was brought upstairs and handed over to EMTs around 5:40 p.m. BFD gave the OK to the T to turn the power back on, as people continued to pour into Red Line stations at rush hour.
Park Street itself became so overcrowded that, as a BFD commander was leaving the scene, he asked the T to turn on fans in the station to try to reduce the sweltering conditions.
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Comments
How sad
Poor woman. In addition to her injuries and whatever caused her to fall, she had 1,000 gawkers, many of whom had no qualms about taking her photo and posting it publicly.
The T being shut is news but there's no public interest in photoing the victim.
T
With Boston being such a Hub of hospitals (so I hear), youd figure a nurse/doctors would jump down to help right away and get her on the platform so the evening commute can continue.
You know what nurses and doctors know?
They know that if there is any chance that a person has a spinal injury, you Do Not Move Them.
Not. Quite. Correct.
Doctors and nurses know that if the person is in eminent danger where they are, you move them, chance of spinal injury be damned.
Was the person lying on the tracks in eminent danger in this case? Obviously not (he or she didn't get run over, after all). But if the red line train was pulling in when the person fell down? Yeah, you get that person on a platform even if there's a chance that person has a spinal injury.
Still wrong
If a train was pulling in already, there would have been no time to retrieve them.
Fyi
eminent
imminent
Also, the first question that EMS are taught to ask is, is the scene safe? IOW, they're not trained to jump in front of a train to rescue people.
Absolutely Correct
The original poster did not say "so they don't get hit by a train".
The original poster wanted them moved so that the trains could run again.
Either way Good Luck lifting
Either way Good Luck lifting an unconscious person out of a track pit back onto the platform. Judging by the photos, the man looks overweight so that task is even more of a challenge even for two people to help carry him up.
You're confusing doctors with dipshits
Otherwise, your comment is spot on.
With all due respect to the
With all due respect to the medical community, I don't think we can expect random nurses and doctors to deal with the 3rd rail.
You can't even see her face!
You can't even see her face!
"protect this woman's entirely anonymous identity!!"
there are better things to complain about..
That was a man...
WCVB TV confirmed it in the 6PM news and showed him (clothes exactly match the victim's in Kris' photo) being transported into the ambulance.
Thanks
Original post updated.
Mostly....
Sigh
Thanks, fixed. It's times like these that make me appreciate Turkish, which I read somewhere has only one word for he/she/it.
Maybe change the headline to "Person falls..." -- just in case.
Globe says "a woman." Non-binary? Or just conflicting reports. Meh.
Steeve additionally confirmed the victim is a man.
See Steeve's post below. And I also seen the Channel 5 footage on TV last night that monique saw, and the victim was definitely a man. Wearing the same clothes as the one who fell into the pit. The newscasters said it was a man. I'll go by that than a Globe story they published so early and quickly that they feel wasn't worth correcting later.
yep
and it's just one letter: "o"
Not entirely
Here's the proof from WCVB
http://www.wcvb.com/article/man-suffers-medical-condition-rescued-from-r...
Well since it is T-related, I
Well since it is T-related, I think the headline should at least rhyme.
Something like:
Man falls on tracks and hits his head. Park street red line traffic is dead!
Sorry, but no
I can't bring myself to do rhymes when somebody's seriously injured.
Yes, but...
This falling on the tracks business is becoming such an everyday occurrence that people are becoming immune to the shock of it. As a T rider for over 40 years I it seems to me this is happening far more now than it used to. I know we hear about it more now what with social media and everyone having a device that photographs and films, but I swear it's statistically happening more also. I'd like to see some figures to see if they back me up. There are too many people falling on the tracks who are over-medicated, drunk, stoned, spaced out, unnecessarily distracted or just plain don't know how to conduct themselves in an environment like the T.
Maybe social media contribute to the problem?
As in, people paying too much attention to their phones and not enough to where their feet are?
Overcrowding
The T is at its highest ridership in decades. So the platforms are more crowded and there's less room to move. That's the recipe for more accidents.
Red Line Fall and Overcrowding
Other than the well-being of the victim, I think the most important question here is whether this was caused at least in part by the obscene crowding on the platform that is now so commonplace.
One of these days, someone is going to sneeze or make just enough of an awkward movement (unintentionally) that in turn is going to be just enough to knock someone forced to stand up front off balance and onto the tracks. That risk is enhanced quite greatly by a new generation of backpack wearers who have not (yet?) been treated to the directness of the old Bostonians in our new Boston.
Crowding is a huge issue
I mostly use the Red Line, where overcrowded platforms can be very dangerous. When you arrive at an already overcrowded station often the only way you can move on the platform is by using the yellow area next to the pit.
And as for the backpack idiots that insist on wearing their backpack instead of taking it off, I for one, do push back. When a backpack is attacking my face or other parts of my body, I push back. I often get no reaction at all. Every once in a while the backpack idiot will apologize, but not often.
Backpack Idiots
I am continually amazed by the parade of backpack idiots who refuse to remove their backpack on a crowded platform or a packed train. You would think they would do it simply for their own ease of movement, let alone consideration of others. They act like these things are welded to their bodies. They honestly don't seem to know that it would be more beneficial for all involved for them to remove the backpack and hold it., At the risk of sounding like an old fogey, it sometimes seems to me people are losing certain common sense skills that everyone (or most) once simply had as almost an instinct. I wonder if there is a reason for this decline in basic skill of how one comports oneself in a public place?
Or it could be that the
Or it could be that the population of Boston is growing while the T is staying stagnant at best, leading to more crowded conditions. I'm sure minorities don't look back fondly on the days when in certain parts of this country they would only be allowed on the back of the bus.
O tempora! O mores!
People have no damn manners any more! People didn't behave like this before Catiline came along and ruined everything with his newfangled backpacks and subways! And the rent is too damn high!
It is rather sickening!
Plus it's totally inconsiderate...and stupid, to boot. People should remove their knapsacks when they go into the MBTA stations and on the trains, in the first place, not just out of consideration for other riders, but for their own protection; it's far too easy for a pickpocket to open up somebody's knapsack and take something that suits his/her fancy, or just to cut the straps and make off with the whole knapsack.
Moreover, it's equally sickening to see people with strollers in the MBTA trains during rush-hour, as well. That's a hazard, because if the train comes to a sudden stop, somebody can inadvertently fall on that stroller and either get hurt, or end up hurting the child rather badly.
In the interest of keeping
In the interest of keeping the victim's medical issues private (it's a good friend of my brother), I am going to say no. Just a really unfortunate time and place to have a medical emergency, and an empty platform would have likely ended up with the same result assuming he was waiting by the yellow. Though in general I don't disagree that the platform overcrowding can exacerbate these types of issues.
As bad as this was
It is very good that he didn't fall from the other side, onto the third rail.
I hope that he heals well and that his medical problems can be brought under control.
I love how it took a BFD
I love how it took a BFD Commander request to get the fans turned on to reduce sweltering heat... Keeping the fans off must be a cost savings measure by the top echelon.
It was a male not a female and they had a sezuire
Great to know there was so many people to watch and take pictures but no one could jump down and help my best friend who is a 30 yr old male and not a female who had a sezurie... just want to thank all these picture takers for not doing anything
He told the T Police he was "dancing" on the platform...
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/07/07/man-who-fell-onto-red-line-...
Unless "dancing" is now the politically correct term for "seizures..."
Looks like people did notify the right people
If you want the trains to stop, you don't jump in the pit - you get the attention of somebody who can stop the trains.
If you haven't noticed from the picture, people did get down and help him, too.
Your expectation that people should jump into a very dangerous area is both foolish and dangerous - especially when better, faster, and more competent help can be had from notifying the professionals in the area who are trained to deal with these emergencies and can coordinate the rescue. As for "all these people taking pictures", well, their jumping down and getting injured, too would have impaired the professional response to your friend's medical emergency.
If there are people trained and employed to handle the situation, you let them know and then you get out of their way.