Video Shows Delta Pilot's Foot Being 'Swallowed' by Moving Walkway at Denver Airport
If you've ever gone through an airport, you've probably walked over (or chilled out on) one of those moving walkways that help close the distance in long halls. I use them every time I'm at the airport (dorky confession time: they make me feel like I'm going over one of those speed-boost panels in Mariokart). However, seeing this recent travesty at Denver International Airport has made me think twice about ever using a moving walkway again.
A recently released security video from Denver International Airport shows the chilling moment that a Delta pilot, hustling to make his next flight, had his foot swallowed up by the end of a moving walkway. The video was made public only a few days ago after the pilot announced that he would be suing the walkway's maintenance company. Be warned: the following footage, while not graphic, is disturbing.
It happens instantaneously: one second he's walking, the next he's on the ground, desperately trying to free his foot from the mangling machine. ABC News reported that the victim, Delta Airlines pilot Kenneth Gow, suffered injuries serious enough to put him out of work for nearly two weeks. His lawyer, Brian Aleinikoff, said he suffered "some pretty nasty bone contusions"- thankfully not as severe as bone fractures, but still very painful. Gow spent weeks in a medical boot undergoing physical therapy. Now, he and his attorneys are going after the company responsible for maintaining the Denver Airport walkway that nearly "ate" his foot: TK Elevators.
The lawsuit alleges that the walkway was missing a plate which left a gap that allowed Ken's foot to get "rolled up and compressed" in the machinery. On the video, Gow's foot clearly became stuck in the small gap, causing him to stumble while bystanders rushed in to help. As if Gow's ensuing medical issues weren't enough, photographs of his mangled shoe and sock paint a nasty picture of what happened on that moving walkway.
"They put the general public and every single person who goes through DIA at danger, at risk," says Aleinikoff, hoping that their suit against TK Elevators will prevent something like this from happening again. In a public statement, TK Elevators said that "the safety of both the riding public and its employees remains TK Elevator's top priority." The company would not comment further due to the lawsuit.
Moving Walkway Accidents
Ehline Law Firm estimates that some 10,000 people are injured in moving walkway accidents in just the US alone, with about 20% of those caused by getting entrapped in a walkway or moving handrail. That's a fairly small number compared to the countless numbers of people who use walkways every day, but that still represents thousands of injuries per year- and again, that's before even factoring in injuries that happen outside the US.
Gow's injury, while frightening and traumatic, was nowhere near one of the worst examples. Last year, the New York Times reported that a woman had her leg amputated up to the kneecap after it was caught in the machinery of a moving walkway at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. Some reports claimed that the woman slipped into the machinery after tripping over her suitcase; her family alleged that she was walking normally when the walkway collapsed underneath her. Either way, the vicious walkway machinery claimed the poor woman's leg.
Moving walkway accidents are rare, but not unheard of, and the consequences of being injured by one can be life-altering. If nothing else, you may want to take extra care the next time you're on a moving walkway. Those things can be treacherous.
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