Family of Massachusetts Woman Who Died on Escalator Sues

November 5, 2009

The family of an 82-year-old Boston woman who died on an MBTA escalator claims in a lawsuit that she was strangled when her hair and scarf became stuck in the machine.

The allegations in the suit filed in Suffolk Superior Court contradict the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's contention that Helen Jackson went into cardiac arrest in February at the Orange Line's State Street stop on her way to an eye appointment.

The suit, which says Jackson suffered blunt trauma and wounds from the pressure of being pinned to the escalator, alleges that the MBTA did not do enough to help her.

The family's lawyer said the incident was a "horror'' for the family.

An MBTA spokesman tells The Boston Globe that a state inspection found no defects with the escalator.