Mom Suing After Son's Hand Gets Stuck In NJ Mall Escalator
BRONXVILLE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Westchester County woman has filed a lawsuit after her young son's hand got stuck in an escalator at a New Jersey mall.
As CBS2's Jessica Moore reported, Kobe Jean, now 5, had his hand severely burned in the accident two years ago at the Garden State Plaza mall.
"I'm just thinking of the fact that he was 3 years old and something like that could have destroyed his life," said his mother, Kia Mack.
In October 2014, Mack was shopping with her son at the mall when his toy car rolled toward the escalator inside the Uniqlo store.
"I tried to get my toy, and my hand got stuck," Kobe said.
"I heard him screaming, and when I ran to him, he was laying on his back and his hands were trapped," Mack said.
The escalators are made by the Schindler company, which Mack is suing.
"One thing I noticed because I was laying on the ground with him for so long (is) that there was no safety cover," Mack said. "And it was, like, wide open."
Kobe, who wants to be a doctor when he grows up, is lucky. He can still use his hand, but the family spent days at doctors' offices. They say the emotional pain cost them even more.
"It's just a horrible feeling," Mack said. "We felt like he was going to lose his hand just being there that long."
The escalator company responded to Mack's lawsuit saying, "It would be inappropriate for Schindler to comment on the incident as the matter is the subject of pending litigation."
Mack said she hopes the company learns from what happened to her boy.
"I definitely don't want this to happen to another kid," she said. "It's horrific."
It wasn't the first escalator accident to happen at Garden State Plaza. In 2013, a girl's foot got stuck in an escalator at Macy's. Her family settled with the company for $15 million.