Rescuers Free 6-Year-Old Boy Caught In Escalator At Md. Store

TEMPLE HILLS, Md. (AP) -- Prince George's County rescuers cut an escalator apart to free a 6-year-old boy whose hands and fingers got stuck under the handrail at the bottom of the moving staircase.

Fire and EMS spokesman Mark Brady says the boy's hand got stuck Thursday night at the Burlington Coat Factory at Iverson Mall in Temple Hills and it took more than two hours to free him. Rescuers cut the escalator apart and had to remove parts of a wall to gain access to the entire escalator.

Brady called the effort to free the panicked boy "a challenging and tedious extrication." He says with the boy's mother's permission, medics administered pain medication to calm the boy. The boy was taken to a hospital, but the extent of his injuries is not known.

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