CBS2 Exclusive: Woman Talks About Falling Into Gap, Landing On LIRR Tracks
GREAT NECK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A woman was speaking out Friday afternoon after a frightening fall at the Long Island Rail Road station in Great Neck.
As CBS2's Ilana Gold reported, commuters snapped photos of the chaos at 5:45 p.m. Thursday. Sima Hakimian, 73, was rescued from the tracks after falling into the gap between the train and the platform.
It took nearly an hour for crews to pull Hakimian to safety before she was rushed to an ambulance.
Hakimian talked exclusively to CBS2 from by phone her hospital bed.
"Well, I could have been dead by now," she said.
Hakimian said she was in a lot of pain Friday, but only suffered cuts and bruises. She said she fell as she stepped off an LIRR train from Manhattan, and a passenger accidentally pushed her from the side.
"It was very crowded, and when I get out, somebody hit me and I lost control," Hakimian said. "I tried to grab her shirt, but it got loose."
Hakimian dropped through the gap between the train car and the platform, which is roughly a foot wide.
"Imagine how big the gap was," she said.
Indeed, it is a gap many commuters cannot ignore.
"I don't even know how she fit between the platform and the train, but there is quite a gap, though," said commuter Solomon Maghalon.
Jason Rosenfeld of the West Village said the large cap could be dangerous.
"It was a little hard for my 9-year-old son to get his bag across the space," he said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Friday was investigating Hakimian's fall. An agency representative said the Great Neck station does have larger gaps than most of the LIRR stations.
But the representative added that the agency has no reports of problems at the Great Neck stop until the one on Thursday.
Great Neck Fire Chief Joshua Forst said he has never seen anything like it.
"To our knowledge, I don't believe that she was distracted in any way, shape or form," Forst said. "I think it was just a freak occurrence."
The MTA has put up signs and rumble strips to warn everyone about the gap, but passengers said that is not enough.
"They should close it somehow," Rosenfeld said.
The MTA said it does not know if it will make changes to the gap after Hakimian's fall. The agency will review what happened and then make a decision.