A cause of death has been revealed for a Massachusetts father of two who died after becoming trapped in an escalator at a subway station earlier this year.
Steven McCluskey, 40, was strangled by his own clothing after falling while riding an escalator at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Davis Station in Somerville on Feb. 27, the Massachusetts Office of the Medical Examiner announced this week.
The asphyxiation caused hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, a serious brain injury that occurs when blood flow or oxygen to the brain is reduced or cut off. Blunt force trauma was also listed as a contributing factor.
His death was ruled an accident.
Surveillance footage shared by NBC affiliate WBTS showed McCluskey riding an escalator down toward the platform at around 5 a.m. As he reached the bottom, he fell and became trapped near the base of the moving escalator.
For the next 22 minutes, commuters reportedly walked past him. Some briefly stopped, but no one immediately intervened, according to footage reviewed by the outlet.
An MBTA employee eventually noticed McCluskey and pressed the emergency button to stop the escalator. By the time first responders arrived, the 40-year-old had no pulse.
McCluskey was rushed to a hospital, where he died 10 days later.
His sister, Shannon Flaherty, said watching people pass her brother without helping left her deeply shaken.
“I’ll be honest, I have never had such a lack of faith in humanity ever,” Flaherty previously told The Boston Globe.
“It has completely changed the perspective I have on people and human behavior,” she continued. “It is, for lack of a better word, despicable. I just can’t believe that so many people had the same inclination to just walk by.”
The MBTA previously described the incident as a “terrible accident” and reminded the public that emergency stop buttons are located at both the top and bottom of its escalators.
“It is important that the public knows that anyone can stop an escalator in an emergency by pressing the red button labeled ‘STOP’ at the top and bottom of each escalator,” the agency said in a statement. “They should also then immediately call 911.”
“MBTA personnel respond swiftly to all emergencies and do everything they can to assist individuals and secure the situation,” the agency added.
Following McCluskey’s death, Flaherty remembered her brother as a talented carpenter and a devoted father to two young boys.
“Regardless of what his cause of death was,” she previously told WBTS, “nobody should be there for 18 minutes, unconscious, being strangled by their own clothes, not able to yell for help.”
