Boston Woman Dragged By Train After Purse Gets Stuck In Doors (VIDEO)

A Boston woman suffered minor injuries when her purse got stuck in a departing "T" train and pulled her along the platform with it. As she was boarding, the doors abruptly shut, trapping her purse between them. The woman attempted to yank it out for about five seconds, but the momentum of the train sent her flying.

The train attendant who was responsible for monitoring the doorway was fired, while the driver was suspended for 10 days, William Mitchell, MBTA general manager, said in a statement.

This is the second train incident to happen in Boston recently. A drunk woman narrowly escaped being run over by a train when she fell onto the tracks last month.

Comments

[WindySailor]

11:40 AM on 12/08/2009

What I expect the MBTA driver and attendant were yelling: "Hey lady, we're in a g*dd*amn hurry here. Get your f*ck*ng purse out of the f*ck*ng door!"

[Lex10]

08:03 AM on 12/08/2009

Now that I'm done wiping the tears of hilarity from my eyes I can say, "thank god she's all right!".

[Middle-Eighth]

08:03 AM on 12/08/2009

This has been going on for decades. I lived in Boston for a couple of years back in the mid-80s and was waiting for the train when a woman who was leaving the train had the door close on her purse/arm. I don't know why her arm was there, but as far as I recall she was leaving, not lingering or chatting or doing anything stupid. I think there were people in front of her.

Anyway, she was desperately trying to pull her purse out before the train left, and I sprang to try to help. I wasn't nearly strong enough to be useful, but the sight of us struggling brought others over, and I guess someone alerted the driver or whoever, and the doors finally opened up.

So if it's true that train doors close even more quickly now, I'm just amazed this doesn't happen every day.

[TheBMChief]

01:35 AM on 12/08/2009

Due to budget cuts, the trains can only wait .5 seconds now before they leave for the next station.

[TheBMChief]

01:20 AM on 12/08/2009

Purses are so 2008. This could have been avoided if she just stayed away from that sale at Penny's. Also, how did this video get out on the internet? OMG

[Robeerst]

10:46 PM on 12/07/2009

In San Diego the sensor on the door makes it possible to stall the train when you are at certain limits. Its a safety thing and also saves money on having a door man. The engineers needs to be canned.

[TheBMChief]

01:21 AM on 12/08/2009

In San Diego, the RED LIMO smells real bad. Especially coming back from San Ysidro with drunk sailors puking all over. Your point?

[sahmaybe]

08:24 AM on 12/08/2009

The "point" was that if the doors don't close so quickly, injuries might be avoided.

[Yepperday]

09:36 AM on 12/08/2009

What exactly is you point here? Just spreading your snark?

[tb92]

10:16 PM on 12/07/2009

My first thought was that Boston trains must be dangerous. Then I realized, no, these two women were just dumb. That makes me feel much better.

[TheBMChief]

01:28 AM on 12/08/2009

You said "women"...and jeez, all these years we thought they HAD a clue!

[tb92]

11:07 AM on 12/08/2009

I don't get it. This person, and the extremely drunk one from a few weeks ago, were both female. Therefore, they are two women.

[Panasit]

06:46 AM on 12/08/2009

Yes, walking out of a train is dumb.

[tb92]

11:08 AM on 12/08/2009

Holding onto your bag while a train is pulling on you is dumb.

[Suntio]

10:06 PM on 12/07/2009

I can't make out what happened at the end: did she let go of the purse, or did the purse break loose from the doors, did the strap break?

[Relic61]

07:28 AM on 12/08/2009

She lets it go.

[Suntio]

09:33 AM on 12/08/2009

I LOVE your avatar.

[ScoutandBuckGoodDogs]

08:49 PM on 12/07/2009

Sometimes people do stupid things not thinking about the full on ramifications. She was stupid to do it but how many times have you done something because your brain is just chugging along but failing to stop and think about the consequences? Sometimes that just happens. Sure, wasn't the best decision of her day but at least she survived it. Probably won't repeat it either. I don't think the train operator should have gotten the can. That's just dumb.

[liberalbug]

09:23 PM on 12/07/2009

"how many times have you done something because your brain is just chugging along but failing to stop and think about the consequences?"

This made me think of Tiger Woods, but he wasn't using the "upstairs" brain when he made all the wrong decisions.

[Suntio]

10:04 PM on 12/07/2009

The driver of the trains got suspended for 10 days, it was the person in charge of monitoring the doors that got fired.

[ScoutandBuckGoodDogs]

11:01 PM on 12/07/2009

Whoops! Well either way.

[paddles]

08:29 PM on 12/07/2009

I live in Boston and ride the red line every day, so I can't tell you how many times people try to jump on the train as the doors are closing-which was probably what happened here. There are very few people waiting on the platform. Some people need to realize that there will be another train so don't risk your life trying to jump on the train at the last minute.

[trrenaud]

11:41 PM on 12/07/2009

Depending on what time of day, the next Red Line could be a half hour. But of course you're still right.

[justasimpleguy]

08:28 PM on 12/07/2009

Ok, look at the doors. This happens all of the time out here in NYC. The doors start to close, and people jam something in, whether it be a hand or a foot to keep the doors from closing, so they can get in. They do not want to wait for the next train. So this lady, instead of wanting to wait, she throws her purse in, probably because she thinks the door will stop and re-open so she can get in.
Well, the strap of the purse was too thin and the door thought it was closed (in NYC there is at least an inch due to the rubber on the door edges).
So, while the conductor should have checked, I do not think it was entirely his fault. The door had to register as closed. I feel sorry for the lady. Most likely a tourist. She didnt want to wait for the next train. So she tried to use her purse to hold the door. That is just dumb. So, if she would have been patient, and if the conductor would have done a better job looking this could have been avoided.

[disprovit]

08:17 PM on 12/07/2009

Situation room special next:

What was in that bag?

[Pragman]

07:22 PM on 12/07/2009

Safety Tip: Don't do that.

[MichB1]

08:05 PM on 12/07/2009

* The more you know!!!

[TheBMChief]

01:30 AM on 12/08/2009

Smokey the Train guy says..."even you can prevent train mishaps!"

[underthegun1]

06:33 PM on 12/07/2009

The saddest thing about this video is the guy just standing on the platform watching it happen. You would think anyone would try to run and help the woman.

[Snowball]

07:22 PM on 12/07/2009

Yeah, he didn't do a thing.

[D0gb3rt]

08:43 PM on 12/07/2009

That would go against his rational self interest. Big no-no.

[themainpoint]

08:29 PM on 12/07/2009

Seems possible that is was over before he had the time to grasp what was going on and take action.

[FinallyFreeOfGeorgeIII]

06:32 PM on 12/07/2009

Stop with the damned freakshow stories. OR - put them ona separate page so readers interested in the real HuffPo stories like the economy, healthcare, Iraq and Afghanistan and other real stuff don't have to see them. Do these stories really bring in new readers? Yack.

[buckfushlv]

06:43 PM on 12/07/2009

you are so right.over the last 6 months the HP for some reason feels that they need to report this

kind of story.

the freakshow stories and the over reporting on Palin almost every day needs to be on TMZ

not our HP

[ROLtheWolf]

07:37 PM on 12/07/2009

Don't read them.

Adoy!

[Igor13]

08:16 PM on 12/07/2009

So I take it you don't want to see the story about Bigfootsaffair with Tiger?

[TheWanderer]

08:15 PM on 12/07/2009

Really! I wonder if she was thrusted horizontally like the broken backed basketball player in yesterday's freakshow article.