A freak escalator strangling left a Seattle man dead this week. The man was strangled to death after his clothing got caught on an escalator.
According to Seattle police, 42-year-old Maurecio Bell fell down on his back while on the King County Metro escalator. When he reached the bottom on the elevator, the back of his shirt got caught and he was strangled to death, CBS reports.
"It's an unfortunate and tragic accident, and we've never seen anything like it before," King County Metro spokesman Jeff Switzer told the Seattle Times.
Bell may have been intoxicated at the time as KVUE-TV reports that police found a half-empty bottle of brandy on his body. Surveillance video also showed Bell leaning and stumbling on the elevator before he fell on his back. The video shows Bell trying to struggle to get free from the escalator before he stops moving.
A person who saw Bell fall tried to help him by pressing the escalator's emergency button. He began performing CPR on bell before professional help arrived.
Bell's possible intoxication wasn't the only factor that led to this tragedy. The King County Metro escalator has several safety-code violations that weren't fixed before this fatal incident. There were issues dating back to December that were not addressed. There are 16,000 escalators and elevators in the state, but only 22 inspectors to check them out.
"When you're going up or down on the escalator it should be safe," bus rider Dionysius Newyork told KIRO-TV. "If your own clothing gets caught in there, they should really take more precautions than that."
The state Department of Labor and Industries is investigating the incident. They are trying to figure out how Bell's clothes got caught in the escalator. The escalator will remain closed until repairs are made.
This death came a day before the agency said they investigated the Bellevue Square escalator where seven people were injured on Dec. 6. The escalator had 32 violations.
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