A Boston family is demanding answers from the MBTA after surveillance video showed a 40-year-old man trapped at the bottom of a moving escalator inside Davis Station in Somerville while commuters walked past him for several minutes before first responders were called.
NBC10 Boston investigative reporter Ryan Kath obtained the footage and reported that Steven McCluskey fell at the bottom of the escalator shortly before 5 a.m. on February 27. What followed, according to Kath’s report, has left McCluskey’s family asking why no one acted sooner and whether his death could have been prevented.
The video is difficult to watch, not because it is loud or chaotic, but because it shows the opposite. People move through the station, some glancing toward the man on the ground, while McCluskey struggles in a public space where help should have come quickly.
A Fall At The Bottom Of The Escalator
Kath reported that McCluskey had stepped onto an escalator at Davis Station and was heading down toward the subway platform when he lost his balance at the bottom. According to the surveillance footage, he fell and did not get back up.
His family later learned only that there had been a horrific accident involving an escalator. They did not yet know the details of what the station video would show.
Shannon Flaherty, McCluskey’s younger sister, told Kath that the possibility his death could have been avoided is what continues to haunt her. “The fact that his death could have been prevented or avoided, and it wasn’t – I want to know why,” she said.
McCluskey’s mother, Mary Flaherty, sat with Shannon inside their South Boston family home as they described him not as a victim in a transit incident, but as a person with a full life. Kath reported that he was a talented carpenter, had run a home improvement business and was the father of two boys.
“He loved building things,” Mary said. “He loved his children and loved being a dad.”
The family also spoke honestly about McCluskey’s struggles in recent years, saying he had been dealing with addiction, but Shannon emphasized that he still tried every day to show up for the people he loved in the ways he could.
Minutes Passed As Riders Walked By
According to Kath’s report, the footage shows that less than a minute after McCluskey fell, a passenger noticed him from the top of the escalator. After taking the stairs down, the person appeared to briefly try to help before continuing toward the subway fare gates.
The video then showed McCluskey moving his legs as he tried to free himself from the machinery, while a line of riders continued through the station. Some appeared to look in his direction, while others passed with little visible reaction.
At one point, Kath reported, a larger group reversed course on the escalator and gathered near McCluskey. One person appeared to pull on his legs for a few seconds before stopping.
It is hard to read a scene like that without feeling a broader discomfort about what public spaces have become. People can freeze, assume someone else has called for help, or fail to understand what they are seeing, but when a person is trapped in machinery, hesitation can turn deadly very quickly.
Mary Flaherty asked the question that many viewers of the video will likely ask themselves: “How, at a busy train station, does nobody stop, nobody see him?”
Emergency Call Came Roughly 18 Minutes Later
Kath reported that about 18 minutes passed after McCluskey fell before a 911 call alerted first responders to the emergency.
In the call obtained by the NBC10 Investigators, the caller described a man at the bottom of the down escalator. When asked whether he was breathing, the caller said, “I can’t even tell.”
More than 22 minutes had passed by the time an MBTA employee appeared on the surveillance video and pressed the emergency stop button, according to Kath’s report.
That emergency stop button is one of the most important details in this case because it was available to the public. Kath explained that the red buttons are prominently displayed at the top and bottom of escalators and can be pressed by anyone who sees someone caught or in danger.
Robert Cotton, an escalator expert with more than 40 years of experience, told Kath that the delay was unacceptable. Cotton previously oversaw escalator infrastructure for Bay Area Rapid Transit in California and said transit agencies carry a high duty of care to the riding public.
“I don’t find that acceptable,” Cotton said of the response time. “That’s way too long.”
Cotton said that if anyone had knowledge of what was happening, it should have been acted on immediately. His point is simple but important: public transit systems are not ordinary settings, and equipment that carries thousands of riders requires fast response when something goes wrong.
What First Responders Found
When first responders arrived, the scene was far worse than many people passing through the station may have realized.
Kath reported that first responders found McCluskey without a pulse, and a Somerville Fire Department report said his clothing had been pulled into the escalator. The clothing had tightened around his throat, cutting off his airway.
Firefighters also discovered that skin from his back had been pulled into the escalator. At one point, according to the report cited by Kath, responders believed the machine might have to be dismantled to free him.
The surveillance footage showed that about half an hour passed after first responders arrived before EMS workers carried McCluskey out of the station on a stretcher. NBC10 Boston video showed him being loaded into an ambulance and taken to Massachusetts General Hospital.
McCluskey regained a pulse after the emergency response, but he died ten days later.
The details are grim, but they matter because they show this was not a simple fall where nothing could have been done. The family’s questions are rooted in the time that passed while the escalator continued moving and while McCluskey remained trapped.
MBTA Calls It A “Terrible Accident”
In a statement to NBC10 Boston, the MBTA called the incident a “terrible accident” and said personnel respond swiftly to emergencies and do everything they can to assist people and secure the situation.
The agency also said the case should remind the public that anyone can press the emergency stop button at the top or bottom of an escalator and should immediately call 911 when someone is caught or injured.
That reminder is important, but it does not fully answer the family’s questions. Mary and Shannon Flaherty want to know where station personnel were, why the escalator kept moving so long, and why the first clear intervention by an MBTA worker came more than 22 minutes after the fall.
Kath reported that NBC10 Boston has a pending public records request for payroll records that could show how many employees were working at Davis Station at the time of the incident.
A spokesperson for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office confirmed that there is an open investigation into McCluskey’s death. Investigators are awaiting a ruling from the medical examiner on the cause and manner of death.
A Family Says Steven Was “Somebody”
For McCluskey’s family, the surveillance video was not just evidence. It was the first time they saw the final moments that had been described to them only in fragments.
Kath reported that Mary and Shannon had not seen the footage before NBC10 Boston contacted them, because their own request had been denied due to the open death investigation.
Watching the video in their living room, they struggled with the sight of commuters passing by. Shannon said she wants someone or something held accountable for the fact that her brother “wasn’t protected in a public space.”
Mary’s words were even more direct.
“He was a somebody,” she said. “He had a life. We loved him. They treated him like he didn’t exist.”
That may be the most painful part of this case. McCluskey’s family is not only asking whether the MBTA failed him, but whether the people around him failed to see him as a person in time.
Public accidents often become discussions about procedure, staffing, maintenance and liability, and those questions are necessary here. But the family’s message also reaches beyond the MBTA: if someone is lying at the bottom of a moving escalator, one minute of attention can matter.
As Mary put it, “People belong to somebody else.”
The investigation may determine what went wrong mechanically or operationally, and the MBTA may eventually have to answer more specific questions about staffing and response. For now, Kath’s report has made one thing clear: Steven McCluskey’s family does not want his death reduced to a tragic accident without accountability, because the video shows there were many moments when someone might have stopped, pushed a button, called for help and changed what happened next.
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
