"I don't know how this happened," Orange County Fire Chief Michael Morganstern told a reporter. But rescuers still managed to undo the painful predicament a teenage girl found herself in after an unsuccessful escalator ride. Per KTLA 5, firefighters were called to the MainPlace Mall in Santa Ana, Calif., on Sunday evening around 6:30. There, they found a girl with her hand lodged firmly in the escalator handrail. "The teen was deemed to be in stable condition, so crews worked to dismantle a portion of the escalator without causing further injury," KTLA reports. As Morganstern later explained, rescuers "went through the process of finding a way to dissect the mechanism" and ultimately used a Dremel to cut away plastic and remove enough bolts to free the hand.
It took about an hour to complete the rescue. Video from the scene shows crews working at the bottom of the escalator, and the teenager appears to be seated on the ground. Once freed, she was taken to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. Morganstern reminded the public to always keep hands on top of the escalator rail. Per the News & Observer, this story comes on the heels of an escalator-related tragedy in Denver on Saturday, when a woman fell to her death after a Kenny Chesney concert. Denver Police tweeted that she was sitting on an escalator handrail when she lost her balance and fell into the concourse below. It's being investigated as an accidental death. (More escalators stories.)
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