My 5-year old was up to his naughty stunt of dragging his foot along the sides of the escalator as we were riding down. Before we could stop him, the soft soles from his croclings had already caused friction and the crocs was dragged off his foot. This had left his foot exposed and unprotected. He was fortunate to escape with just a skin cut on his big toe. But this was no consolation for the shock that he experienced in the brief moment when the accident happened.
This morning, I googled crocs+escalator and came up with 36000 results, crocs+injury+kids = 202000 results and crocs+accident = 483000 results! There have been many cases before and many reports and complaints have been made to the company. Most of the incidents happened to kids belows 3 years involving elevators in malls and airports. There were kids who had their toes caught between the steps or the sides of the elevators. Some had their toes partially amputated while others had their toe nails ripped off.
There is even a family in the USA who has filed a $7m lawsuit against Crocs earlier this year for their 3-year-old daughter being "severely and permanently injured" when one of her pink, holed shoes was sucked into an airport escalator in New York City. Although it was reported that only her skin was peeled off, the parents have described the incident has horrifying.
After having our own experience last night, it was indeed horrifying. It was scary to think that any of those accidents could have happened to my little boy. I just hope this accident had taught him (and his big brother who witnessed the whole incident) to be more mindful when riding on the escalator.
Parents, if you must let your kids wear crocs, keep them for outdoor use and please avoid escalators.
A reminder of the incident
