Youth Injured in Fall at Monorail : Disneyland: Passenger surge reportedly causes him to tumble from platform at hotel.

A 15-year-old youth was injured early Sunday when he fell 20 feet from a monorail platform at the Disneyland Hotel in the first serious accident since the train ride opened in 1959, according to a Disneyland official.

The teen-ager, Edward Paolello of Santa Maria, was transported to UCI Medical Center immediately after the 12:30 a.m. fall. He was listed in fair condition with a shattered right elbow, a fractured left wrist and a hairline fracture of his pelvis, said Karen Wucetich, a hospital supervisor.

Paolello, who had been staying at the hotel with friends, was apparently accidentally pushed over a short wall and off the platform by a surge of passengers as they left the monorail, said his mother, Sylvia Paolello.

The teen-ager landed on a concrete parking area near the entrance to the hotel, his mother said.

“He had just gone through the turnstile and looked back to see his friend,” said Paolello, 42, a home health aid. “He didn’t realize the change in the path and he wound up falling over the wall. He was so lucky, so lucky he wasn’t more seriously hurt.”

Paolello’s fall was the second at the park within the past two months. On April 17, a Highland man suffered minor injuries when he fell from a Skyway gondola and landed 20 feet below in a tree at the Alice in Wonderland ride.

In a short statement, Disneyland officials said the Sunday incident was under investigation. Spokeswoman Pam Espinosa added that this was the first serious accident since the Monorail was built at the park in 1959.

The teen-ager had spent the day in the park with several friends and all were together as they left the train at the hotel platform, Sylvia Paolello said. The girls in the group looked back at Edward and saw him fall, she added.

Paolello said her son is big for his age--6 feet 1 inch tall and about 225 pounds--and she speculated that his size may have contributed to the accident.

“He just fell over. Anybody else the wall might have stopped,” said Paolello, who drove to the hospital from Santa Maria after being notified of the accident.