Print
Oct 4, 2006 1:50 pm US/Eastern
Dangerous LIRR Gap Claims Another Victim
--BY GREGG GELLER, WCBSTV.Com
NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y. (CBS) ―
-
-
A woman fell into the gap at the New Hyde Park LIRR station.
Gregg Geller
-
-
A vertical gap between the train and platform tripped up Cristina Dadamo on Tuesday.
Gregg Geller
-
-
The MTA has posted signs like this one at Penn Station in the wake of several gap-related incidents. (Photo by Gregg Geller)
Gregg Geller
An elderly woman was slightly injured in the latest train platform gap incident on the Long Island Rail Road.
At around 3:20 p.m. Tuesday, Cristina Dadamo was getting off a Huntington-bound LIRR train at the New Hyde Park station when she tripped and fell.
She plunged between the train and the platform up to her thigh. Passengers waiting in the train vestibule and a train crew member helped to pulled her from the gap, which was about eight or nine inches wide.
Unlike other incidents, there was a vertical gap as well as a horizontal one. The platform was approximately one foot higher than the train, forcing passengers to step up to exit the train, and step down to board it.
Dadamo sat on the platform for several minutes as the train was held in the station, while crewmembers called for an ambulance. When she tried to get up, a crewmember told her to remain where she was until EMS arrived.
"I'm ok. I just want to go home," she said repeatedly, but the crewman was insistent. She seemed more embarrassed than hurt.
Dadamo's dress was torn at the hip from the fall, but she had no visible injuries.
Crewmembers were very attentive to the woman. One crewman exited the train and remained with her after the train left the station.
When EMS arrived at the station, Dadamo refused medical assistance and left.
Aboard the train, there was audible grumbling about the incident and the delay, which lasted about 10 minutes.
"That's what the signs are for," one man said loudly.
Another added, "People should watch where they're going."
"C'mon! Let's go already!"
The 2:52 off-peak train out of Penn Station due in at Huntington at 3:59 p.m. arrived about 10 minutes late.
A Continuing ProblemIn August, 18-year old Natalie Smead, a tourist from Minnesota, was killed after slipping through a gap and being hit by a train.
CBS 2 has been investigating the problem ever since her death, discovering dangerous gaps at several LIRR stations. In some cases, the gaps are more than a foot wide.
In Septmber, a former state senator fell into a gap, and a 4-year old fell through a gap but wasn't hurt. And a businessman who frequently rides the train fell through an 11-inch gap at Shea Stadium after leaving the U.S.Open.
State officials are studying the safety of the gaps and will make recommendations accordingly. According to the MTA there were at least 59 gap-related incidents over the past year among riders who use the LIRR.
The study is expected to take more than six months and could include recommendations such as widening train cars or installing moveable platforms at certain stations of the Metro-North railroad and LIRR.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
