HOUSTON – H-E-B and TK Elevator Corporation (TKE) are facing a lawsuit by a family after a toddler lost four of her fingers in an escalator accident at a Bellaire H-E-B store.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Oct. 16, is suing the grocery store chain and escalator company for negligence, gross negligence and premises liability. The case was taken on by civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump.
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The court documents in the suit recount the events of March 30. A 3-year-old girl was going down the store’s escalator, when she lost her balance and sat down on the moving steps to catch herself. The lawsuit alleges that the escalator had a “large gap” between the steps and the skirt wall, and the child’s right hand got lodged between the moving steps and the stationary wall.
The escalator continued to move as the girl’s parents tried to free her hand, and horrifically, the girl’s fingers were removed when her hand was freed from the gap.
The lawsuit accuses the grocery store chain and escalator outfitter of failures on multiple fronts, arguing that that the escalator was undermaintained, and skirt safety switches on the escalator should have triggered an automatic stoppage when the child’s hand was trapped.
The suit also alleges that the escalator was immediately put back into service after the accident before state authorities had investigated, leading to the destruction of valuable evidence.
“This tragic incident has forever altered the life of a 3-year-old child and her family,” Crump said in a press release on his website. “The defendants failed in their basic duty to keep customers safe, and their negligence resulted in a young child losing her fingers in a horrific incident that could have been avoided with proper maintenance. This was completely preventable.”
Crump’s law firm has worked on several notable civil rights cases, including those of Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.