Authorities are continuing to investigate the death of a father of two who died after becoming trapped at the bottom of an escalator at the Davis MBTA stop in Somerville in February, according to records and officials.
Steven McCluskey, 40, of South Boston, became trapped in the escalator after falling shortly before 5 a.m. on Feb. 27, according to a report by the MBTA Transit Police and T officials.
The escalator was not stopped until 5:21 a.m., and medics did not arrive until about 5:23 a.m., according to video footage from the MBTA station.
The footage also showed several early morning patrons walking by McCluskey, with most doing nothing to help or taking time to stop the escalator.
In an interview last week, McCluskey’s sister, Shannon Flaherty, said it was wrenching to know that several people passed by her brother as he lay in obvious distress.
“I’ll be honest, I have never had such a lack of faith in humanity ever,” she said. “It has completely changed the perspective I have on people and human behavior. It is, for lack of a better word, despicable. I just can’t believe that so many people had the same inclination to just walk by.”
Flaherty, 20, the youngest of McCluskey’s six siblings, two of whom predeceased him, said her brother was “my favorite person in the entire world.”
He was a loving father of two young boys and a skilled carpenter with his own business, she said. He loved “to take stuff down and make it better” in his work and enjoyed the results of his craftsmanship, she said.
McCluskey’s death, and the video of the response, were first reported by NBC Boston.
According to the Transit police report, officers were called to the subway stop around 5:19 a.m. for a report of “a male party stuck underneath an escalator.”
MBTA Transit and Somerville police found McCluskey “pinned at the bottom of the escalator,” the report said. He was “unresponsive, bare-chested, and his clothing was tightly lodged within the escalator steps,” the report read.
“I immediately assessed McCluskey for a pulse and detected none,” the report read.
Somerville firefighters arrived moments later and administered a dose of Narcan to McCluskey, causing a gurgling response, the report said.
“It was further observed that McCluskey’s shirt was constricting around his neck area and compromising his airway,” the report read. “Fire personnel cut the shirt to relieve the obstruction.”
After multiple rounds of CPR, McCluskey regained a pulse, according to the report.
Firefighters extricated McCluskey, who was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he was pronounced dead several days later on March 9, according to the police report and his online obituary.
Video surveillance released by the MBTA in response to a public records request shows McCluskey lying at the bottom of the escalator for about 20 minutes before someone called for help, with several patrons doing little to nothing to help, and no one hitting an emergency button to stop the conveyance.
The footage shows McCluskey, wearing a black jacket over a light-colored hoodie, getting on the escalator shortly before 5 a.m. and heading down toward the station.
He is initially holding onto the left rail while a small bag hangs loosely from his left wrist. Seconds later, he abruptly falls at the bottom of the escalator and becomes trapped.
As he tries to free himself with the bottom of his jacket apparently stuck, another MBTA patron arrives at the top of the escalator and looks down and to the left momentarily before walking down a parallel staircase.
The person appears to try to help free McCluskey for a moment before continuing into the station and out of the camera’s view, as McCluskey continues writhing in a desperate attempt to break loose.
After a minute or so, his movements gradually subside, and he’s seen positioned on his back as the escalator continues running, his jacket still trapped in it.
He lies virtually motionless over the next several minutes, as several additional patrons walk by him on the parallel staircase.
Only one of them makes an effort to help free McCluskey, briefly pulling on his ankles to try to extricate him at 5:15 a.m. The person then appears to continue into the station and out of the video frame.
Two minutes later, another person approaches McCluskey from inside the station and briefly looks down at him before turning and walking back into the station.
At 5:18 a.m., a female patron approaches the top of the escalator, looks down at McCluskey, and immediately takes out her phone before moving out of view, apparently calling 911.
Three minutes later, a Red Line employee approaches McCluskey and immediately shuts down the escalator by pressing an emergency stop button at its base before appearing to radio for more help.
The employee kneels beside McCluskey and appears to check for a pulse.
Additional police officers, firefighters, and paramedics begin arriving around 5:23 a.m., some 25 minutes after McCluskey became trapped, and begin administering medical aid.
McCluskey is successfully extricated from the escalator and placed on a stretcher just before 5:55 a.m.
“This was a terrible accident,” the MBTA said in a statement. “It is important that the public knows that anyone can stop an escalator in an emergency by pressing the red button labeled ‘STOP’ at the top and bottom of each escalator. They should also then immediately call 911. MBTA personnel respond swiftly to all emergencies and do everything they can to assist individuals and secure the situation.”
According to MBTA officials, as part of opening Davis Station at the start of the day, an employee on duty turned on the eight escalators at the stop, saw that each was working safely and properly, and continued performing several additional duties to fully open the station.
“Obviously, this is a tragedy,” Phil Eng, the MBTA’s general manager and interim state transportation secretary, said in comments to NBC last week. “Safety, reliability of the system, is paramount. ... And [McCluskey’s] passing is something that is very disheartening.”
Eng wasn’t available for an interview, a spokesperson said.
The investigation into McCluskey’s death remains open pending “a ruling on cause and manner of death,” a spokesperson for Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office said last week.
A spokesperson for the state agency that oversees the chief medical examiner’s office said the cause and manner of death remain pending.
Flaherty said last week she wanted the MBTA to “take accountability.”
“And be able to state that they failed him, rather than being able to say the MBTA did nothing wrong,” she said. “That’s the main thing I don’t want.”
Flaherty also said members of the public should stop to assist someone in distress, or at least alert the authorities if they’re unable to help.
“They’re people,” Flaherty said of individuals who are in danger in public settings like the train station. “They’re somebody’s person. Just to walk by, or be able to walk away from something like that ... that’s just not OK.”
Asked if she felt the T and passersby had failed her brother, Flaherty said without hesitation: “Yes. One hundred percent.”
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.