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Shoppers Asked to Leave Mall After Man Tragically Falls From Escalator
A Toronto man is dead following a freak accident on an escalator at a mall.
On Thursday, June 25, police responded to a call of an industrial accident at the RioCan Express Walk Plaza in North York in Canada. Shortly after emergency first responders arrived around 5 p.m. local time, they pronounced the unnamed man dead at the scene and determined that he had somehow fallen from the nearby escalator.
Police immediately began evacuating the building and the surrounding plaza so that they could investigate the situation and keep people from seeing the victim’s body. However, the mall was crowded at the time of the incident and a witness, Lucas Hay, told Global News that he could see some of the aftermath before authorities ushered him out of the area.
“We saw a blanket over [the ground] and a lot of cops and security guards just around, and then eventually we were outside, and we saw people coming out [of the mall],” he said.
Hay explained that an announcement soon came over the intercom telling people to leave the building. He described there being no panic at the scene as people cooperatively left.
RioCan, the company that owns the mall, issued a statement saying that it will cooperate with any investigations stemming from the incident.
“We are deeply saddened by this incident and extend our sincere condolences to the individual’s family and loved ones,” the statement reads, per the Toronto Sun. “RioCan has fully cooperated with the investigation. We defer any questions regarding the incident to Toronto Police and are unable to comment further.”
The Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) conducted an investigation into the incident and confirmed to People that the man’s fall did not have anything to do with equipment failure. The escalator was reportedly working as intended. However, it’s unclear what caused the man to fall, but authorities have stated that they do not believe the death was criminal in nature.
The country’s Ministry of Labour was initially notified of the incident. However, because the victim was not a worker or conducting work at the location, the death does not fall under the ministry’s jurisdiction.
