An Interview With a Woman Who Broke Her Hip in the UWS Trader Joe’s Escalator Mishap

By Gus Saltonstall

This weekend was supposed to be joyous for Upper West Sider Mary Willis.

Her daughter is getting married on Saturday.

Willis won’t be at the wedding, though. She’ll be in a hospital bed at Mount Sinai West.

Willis, 80, broke her hip and pelvis after multiple people fell down the escalator and landed on top of her on Tuesday at the Trader Joe’s on West 72nd Street and Broadway. She needed immediate surgery.

“I’ve never had that kind of pain in my life,” Willis told the Rag, in a phone call from her hospital room on Friday. “It was just excruciating.”

• Read More: 2 People Hospitalized After Escalator Accident at Upper West Side Trader Joe’s: FDNY

Here’s our conversation with Willis, who explained more about how her injuries occurred.

WSR: Can you describe what happened from your perspective?

Willis: I had finished shopping. I had a previous injury, so I was wearing a boot because I had hurt my foot. So, out of caution, I asked one of the employees to take my groceries up to the exit. A guy who was the highest up on the escalator in front of me looked to be in his 80s. And then, this other man, who was more hefty, was minding his business and going up the escalator, around four steps behind him. And then, I stepped on to the escalator and began to rise.

WSR: What happened next?

Willis: So, the guy near the top of the escalator loses his balance and starts falling back down the escalator. On his way down, he hit the other man, which caused him also to fall backward, and they both careened into me and were crushing me.

I was screaming, ‘Get them off, get them off.’ I knew immediately that they had landed on my hip and that it was really serious. They knocked me to the bottom of the escalator. The guy at the front was probably four or five steps from the top. I have all of these track marks on my leg and my left side from the escalator because it didn’t go off immediately, so they kept getting pushed onto me.”

WSR: What was the reaction from inside of the store?

Willis: One of the employees stood behind me and kept asking if I wanted help up, but I told him no, ‘don’t touch me, I know I can’t move.’ I have never had that kind of pain in my life.

WSR: And, could you tell why the man fell?

Willis: I have no idea. I just knew that suddenly I saw a guy falling from the top of the escalator, like the famous falling scene from the ‘Mad Men’ credits. Everything happened in a matter of seconds. I do know the escalator didn’t stop.

WSR: Then you were taken to the hospital?

Willis: Because the customer elevator wasn’t working, it took the EMS guys — who everybody said came quickly, but they didn’t come quickly for me– a good 40 minutes before they figured out how to get me out. I was screaming. They ended up getting me into a produce freight elevator that customer don’t use out onto 72nd Street.

My injuries are really severe. I had to be operated on. I had a totally crushed pelvis, as well as the broken hip bone. I have abrasions on my arms and legs.

WSR: What does the recovery timeline look like?

Willis: I’m in for a really rough period. I was in surgery, now post surgery I can’t walk yet. I’ll be at the hospital for another full week and then I have to go into intensive PT. I’m praying. I’m a strong, active woman. This is really, really terrible.

WSR: Your daughter’s wedding is this weekend?

Willis: On Saturday. I can’t go. I’m really crippled. It’s such a hard choice. I was really thinking the wedding is more important, but then I thought it would be too hard. I can barely walk. She understands. Everybody knows it’s terrible.”

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