A mother's routine ride on the MBTA turned into a nightmarish ordeal on New Year's Day when a Green Line trolley trapped her leg in its doors at the Medford/Tufts Station. While trying to assist her child off the train, Rebecca Mason, 36, was caught between the train and the platform. Her harrowing experience was described in posts on social media, where she said, “The door suddenly closed on my leg. I let go of my son’s hand and started yelling for help, my son was screaming also,” as detailed to Boston.com.
Passengers behind her tried in vain to pry the door back open, leaving her son standing alone on the platform. According to an interview with 7NEWS, Mason recalls the moment: “The people who were on the train behind us were trying to pull the doors open, but they couldn’t do it,” It was an MBTA employee who eventually intervened, urging passengers to hit the emergency release button, which ultimately freed her trapped leg.
The MBTA has since suggested operator error may be the culprit in the incident. A statement conveyed that “preliminary findings suggest standard procedures were not correctly followed by the operator, which led to the doors shutting prematurely.” The operator in question has been relieved of their duties pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation. The MBTA expressed its commitment to a "swift yet exhaustive review,", as reported by Boston.com.
In the incident that, Mason confirmed, left with no major injuries, though possibly a bruise. “Thankfully my son was not hurt and I’ll probably have a big bruise at worst,” as per a statement from Boston.com.
Despite the ordeal, she asserts it won't deter her future use of the transit system but emphasizes the need for safety reforms, telling 7NEWS, “They need to have the resources in order to operate the trains safely,”
The investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board identified a malfunctioning door, a camera monitor's blind spot, and operator error as contributing factors.
