Teen needs rescue after her hand gets stuck in mall escalator, California officials say

A teenage girl had to be rescued after her hand became trapped in an escalator handrail at a Santa Ana mall, California firefighters reported.

Orange County Fire Authority firefighters had to partly dismantle the escalator at MainPlace Mall to free the girl Sunday, July 31, KTTV reported.

“I don’t know how this happened,” Battalion Chief Michael Morganstern told KTLA. The rescue began at approximately 6:30 p.m. and took about an hour.

The girl was taken to a hospital, KTTV reported.

In Denver, a woman fell to her death from a stadium escalator Saturday, July 30, after a Kenny Chesney concert, McClatchy News reported. She was reportedly sitting on a handrail.

The three-story MainPlace Mall has 180 stores plus JCPenney, Macy’s and Nordstrom, along with a six-screen movie theater, according to its Facebook page. It opened in 1987.

Santa Ana is a city of 332,000 people in Orange County south of Anaheim.

This story was originally published August 1, 2022 at 12:23 PM with the headline "Teen needs rescue after her hand gets stuck in mall escalator, California officials say."