Boy, 3, Hurt When Snagged by Escalator : Accident: He is still in intensive care after frantic effort to free him from device last weekend at MainPlace/Santa Ana.

A 3-year-old boy who was badly injured by a mall escalator here remained in intensive care Wednesday, and witnesses described the frantic and nightmarish scene.

Cody Carter was riding with his mother on a MainPlace/Santa Ana escalator Saturday when he fell and snagged his shirt between the moving stairs and the stationary metal comb at the top of the rising escalator, witnesses said.

One witness, who identified herself only as Evelyn, said she heard the boy scream and saw him with his stomach pressed flat against the escalator’s landing.

The steps kept “churning” against the boy, she said, so she ran to press the escalator’s emergency stop button, but an unidentified woman beat her to it.

Evelyn, an employee at Steve’s Ice Cream shop, said the boy’s mother ran into the shop asking for scissors to cut the boy’s shirt off, she said.

Minutes later, though, the boy was still stuck to the escalator, apparently because his skin was caught beneath the mechanism, Evelyn said.

A mall security guard later managed to reverse the escalator, freeing the boy, she added.

Anchalee Herd, the owner of Steve’s Ice Cream, said workers from that shop also offered towels and ice for the boy. The mother sat on a bench holding the crying boy until paramedics arrived, the witnesses said.

Evelyn said she could not estimate how long the boy was caught. “I’m a parent, so to me it felt like it was forever,” she said.

Another witness, Holly Roberson, said Cody was trapped by the escalator’s mechanism for at least several minutes.

Cody remained in the intensive care unit at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana on Wednesday night. His parents asked authorities not to release further information about their son’s condition or their family.

The boy reportedly suffered injuries to his stomach, groin and legs.

The escalator was shut down after the accident but was restarted late Wednesday morning after a state-supervised inspection determined that it was operating properly, said Dick Fleming, a safety engineer for the occupational safety division of the state Department of Industrial Relations. The inspection found that “there was nothing wrong with the escalator, no code violations and no reason we could shut it down,” Fleming said.

Investigators will continue to investigate to try to determine how the accident happened, he said.

One thing that was found, however, was that the escalator’s required annual permit expired about a month ago, Fleming said. It is not clear yet whether the mall had requested an annual inspection or whether a state backlog caused a delay.

Escalator accidents are so rare that the National Safety Council, which keeps track of preventable home and job-related injuries, has never monitored them, spokesman Bob O’Brien said.

Although escalators are considered fairly safe, the accidents that do occur usually involve children, said Rick Rice, spokesman for the California Department of Industrial Relations.

The state has recorded 13 escalator accidents since 1987, but no law requires accidents to be reported to the state unless an employee is involved at the workplace, Rice said.

The most typical accident involves clothing caught at the end of the escalator where the stairs fold into a metal plate. Shoelaces and long coats are some of the main problems, Rice said.

State law requires escalators to have safety switches that cut power when something becomes wedged between the steps and the metal comb on the escalator’s landing, Rice said.

The law also requires an emergency stop button or handle at the top and bottom of the escalator, he said. The button, which must be red, is usually on the outside of the escalator.

Rice said he hopes that Saturday’s accident will help remind the public to be cautious on escalators, especially with children.

“Generally, I think they’re very safe,” he said. “But you have to take special precautions with children and with older people because they have problems with their balance.”

Adults should use the handrail, children should be held while approaching the escalator’s landing and objects such as strollers should not be taken aboard, he said.

“Primarily, it’s not the fault of the escalator,” he said. “It’s the way people are using them.”

Escalator Accident

Although escalators are very safe--there have been only 13 accidents in the state of California since 1987--an incident last weekend at the MainPlace Mall serves as a reminder that they can cause severe injury. They are dangerous, particularly, for children, as the accident involving 3-year-old Cody Carter shows.

1. Boy falls and catches his shirt between moving escalator steps and the stationary comb at the top of the flight. Unidentified bystander presses emergency stop button and stairs stop moving.

2. Boy’s mother borrows scissors to cut off his shirt. He remains stuck because his skin is caught in the mechanism.

3. Mall security guard restarts the escalator in the reverse direction, freeing the boy.