Is Macy's Wooden Escalator to Blame for Finger Cutting Accident?

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The spotlight is on the ever-controversial, sometimes combustible Macy's wooden escalators again, as a four-year old boy had his finger sliced off in an accident over the weekend. According to the NY Post via Gothamist, the boy was riding the third floor escalator when he went to pick up a dropped bottle of water and things went horribly awry. Thankfully, doctors later successfully reattached the finger, though the poor boy is probably traumatized from ever setting foot in a department store ever again.

The wooden escalators have been named as the culprit in this terrible (but not uncommon) accident and many from the Post to Gothamist been quick to jump on the much-loved, but much-maligned relic of department store past. But Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, who is clearly on the Team Wooden Escalators, points out that the accident was reported as taking place on either the first or the third floor (depending on the news source), but either way, the accused wooden escalators reside between the eighth and ninth floors. Ah ha!

So are the wooden escalators safe? We're not so sure, especially since the Macy's Herald Square flagship will undergo a massive renovation in the next few years. The boy's mother is calling for Macy's to remove the accused wooden escalators and a Macy's spokesperson confirmed to Fox News on Sunday that the escalators were taken out of use. It's possible that the days of the wooden escalator are numbered. In the meantime, parents, please watch your children—any escalator is a hazard.
· Macy's Wooden Escalator Severs Child's Finger [Gothamist]
· Wooden Escalators [Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]
· Boy Maimed by Macy's Escalator Has Finger Reattached [Fox News]
· Herald Square Macy's Confirmed to Go Under the Knife [Racked]