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Witnesses recount store horrors

Attorneys for a girl injured by a Dillard's escalator put a half dozen people on the stand to relate their own encounters with the device.

By JAMIE THOMPSON
Published January 19, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - One mother desperately tried to free her 3-year-old daughter as the escalator began ripping off the girl's blue jeans. Another mother tugged frantically on her 9-year-old son's leg as the same escalator ingested half his Nike shoe.

Neither of the children was hurt, the mothers told a Pinellas jury Tuesday.

But 5-year-old Kerriana Johnson was not so lucky.

Her screams filled the Dillard's at Tyrone Square Mall for more than a minute as 72 steps crushed down on her right hand, Kerriana's attorneys said. The escalator ground off three of the girl's fingers and sucked in one of her Barbie shoes.

As paramedics rushed Kerriana to the hospital, she asked: "Will my hand grow back?"

In opening arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit against Dillard's, Kerriana's attorney, Justin C. Johnson, said the little girl's right hand was permanently mangled, and she is left only with a pinky and thumb.

Kerriana's mother, Lori Medvitz, is suing the store for unspecified damages. Her attorneys said Dillard's down escalator had earned its nicknames - "meat grinder" and "crusher" - by swallowing dozens of shoes since 1998.

But Dillard's lawyers blamed the accident on Kerriana's mother, saying she was not watching her daughter closely enough while shopping with an infant on one hip and also looking after her 8-year-old son, Timmy.

On Nov. 29, 2002, Kerriana was not riding on the down escalator when she was injured, but had wandered over to it.

Dillard's lawyer Bob Stoler said the company made some mistakes, and shares some responsibility for the accident. But Kerriana's mother also is to blame, Stoler said.

"If Kerriana Johnson was properly supervised that day," he said, "this accident would never have happened."

Kerriana's lawyers spent much of the afternoon disputing that, calling a half dozen witnesses who said they, too, had had problems with the escalator - before and after Kerriana's injury.

Lawyers said about 86 people have had problems with the escalator since 1998, with 33 total shoe ingestions. They said there have been 13 incidents since Kerriana's injury.

Darlene Kelly, of St. Petersburg, told the jury that her 9-year-old son's Nike was caught in the same escalator in August 2002 - three months before Kerriana. Kelly said she was able to free her son's foot before the escalator ingested half his shoe.

"My son was very shaken and scared," Kelly said. "... I was hysterical."

Another St. Petersburg resident, Peggy Newkirk, told the jury she was riding down the escalator with her two daughters, 3-year-old Ashlee and 5-year-old Alexus, when Ashlee slipped and fell.

The escalator started pulling in and tearing Ashlee's jeans, Newkirk said. She straddled her daughter, trying to free her, but then the escalator also began sucking in Newkirk's shoe. Newkirk was able to jerk her foot away, but the escalator kept grinding on her shoe and on her daughter's jeans.

About 10 minutes passed before store clerks shut off the escalator, Newkirk said. They had to cut off Ashlee's jeans with scissors, then put the family in a dressing room so they could bring over new shoes and clothes, Newkirk said.

Another woman said the same escalator ate her 5-year-old granddaughter's sandal. Several adults said their shoes also had been swallowed. Every time, they were escorted to pick out a pair of free shoes.

The problem, Kerriana's lawyers said, was an illegal gap at the foot of the escalator.

Dillard's said it spent more than $50,000 upgrading its escalator the summer before Kerriana was injured, shutting it down for a week to do repairs. Lawyers said customers who had problems weren't using the escalator properly. The lawsuit also names two store employees who were responsible for the maintenance and safety of the escalator.

While an escalator is not hugely expensive to replace - about $70,000 - it can take weeks to install a new one, Kerriana's lawyers said. The frame typically comes in a whole piece rather than in parts, and some stores have to close while a crane lifts an escalator into the store.

Dillard's did not want to replace its 30-year-old escalator, Johnson said, because "when the escalator is not moving, the cash register is not ringing."

Dillard's said it made an effort to maintain its escalator and did not knowingly put its customers in danger. Without customers, Stoler said, "we are nothing."

The trial is expected to last up to 10 days.

[Last modified January 19, 2005, 04:30:12]