Oklahoma City, OK -- Marco Solis was going to work at The Plaza Mayor, formerly Crossroads Mall, Thursday morning. His nephew, 9-year-old Miguel Pacheco, was behind him on the escalator, KFOR reports.
"I thought the escalator just like broke or something, because I fell forward, and I looked back, and I looked down, and his foot was stuck," Solis said.
The escalator's emergency shut off had stopped it.
"His toe was out, so it was only just two toes that were stuck in there," Solis said.
Fire crews responded, and it took them about half an hour to free the boy's foot.
"We used our tools to spread the side of the escalator apart," said District Chief Shane Williams with the Oklahoma City Fire Department.
Pacheco was wearing crocs at the time of the accident.
Crews help boy with foot stuck in escalator
There have been several stories of children wearing crocs injured on escalators.
And, multiple lawsuits have been filed against the company.
Marco said the shoes might have been a culprit today, but they also kept it from being worse, because it was the rubber of the show that jammed up the escalator.
"Because, it could've been a lot worse. The crocs kind of, I don't know. It caused it, and then it helped him at the same time," Solis said.
And, Pacheco walked away with only a minor injury.
"One of his toenails was broken off but, other than that, he was fine," Solis said.
City inspectors went out to look at the escalator and determined it functioned exactly as it should have.
The mall sent a statement:
"At approximately 9:30 a.m., a child wearing crocks got his shoe caught in the escalator at Plaza Mayor. The escalator reacted properly and immediately stopped. The fire department was called to extricate the child's foot from the escalator. The child was not bleeding and was able to walk up the escalator on his own immediately after being released. As a precaution, EMSA took the child by ambulance to get checked out. We appreciate the rapid response time from the Oklahoma City Fire Department and EMSA, and we are thankful for their assistance." – Kristi Cole, Property Manager for Plaza Mayor
