Posted on 10/31/2003 9:24:17 AM PST by Diddle E. Squat
Area commuters suffered lengthy delays Wednesday evening after a Bronx, N.Y., man got his arm stuck in a Metro-North Railroad train toilet.
"When this moron's arm went down the crapper, so did our evening commute," Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker said.
Edwin Gallart, 41, was aboard the 6:19 p.m. train from Grand Central Terminal when he dropped his cell phone into a toilet. Gallart rolled up his sleeve and reached into the toilet to retrieve the phone, Brucker said.
That's where his arm -- all the way up to his elbow -- would stay for the next 90 minutes.
Crew members were alerted to the problem a few blocks north of Grand Central, at about 59th Street, when the train was still in the Park Avenue tunnel...
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...As the train continued north on the Harlem Line, the trainmaster tried to remove Gallart 's arm from the stainless steel commode, Brucker said.
Twenty minutes later, at 6:38 p.m., police and firefighters boarded the train at Fordham station and began assisting Gallart, Brucker said.
Meanwhile, passengers were evacuated and thousands of commuters were delayed because the train sat blocking the platform as the rescue work continued, Brucker said...
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...The jam at Fordham also caused numerous delays for area commuters on the New Haven Line, he said.
Firefighters tried a variety of methods to extricate Gallart's arm.
"The fire department had to take apart the entire toilet to get this man's arm out," Brucker said.
They ripped the toilet door off to gain access and also punched through a wall, Brucker said.
They also dismantled the platform covering the steel bowl and used an acetylene torch to open up the bowl, Brucker said.
Gallart was likely in considerable discomfort during his ordeal.
"How good are you going to feel with your arm stuck in a toilet?" Brucker said.
A small amount of blood was found in the toilet, apparently because Gallart 's arm was cut during the extrication efforts, Brucker said.
In addition, train toilets are known to be "odoriferous," Brucker said, though most of the smell comes from the powerful chemicals, not from the waste, he said.
At 7:45 p.m., firefighters removed Gallart's arm, and he was treated and released from a Fordham-area hospital, Brucker said. Gallart, who lives in the Woodlawn section of the Bronx, could not be reached for comment.
The cell phone was never retrieved, Brucker said...
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...The railroad's maintenance department estimated the toilet would take two days and "several thousand dollars" to fix, Brucker said.
(Excerpt) Read more at stamfordadvocate.com ...
"When this moron's arm went down the crapper, so did our evening commute," Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker said.
This happens to me ALL the time!!!
LOL!! It's so refreshing to hear of that increasingly rare individual who is good at what he does.
Brucker deserves to be honored with a promotion, a plaque, and a cash award in a nationally-televised ceremony.....
OK, so Gallart's an idiot. But I think that the firefighters over-reacted.....
Investigators have learned that Gallart is a professional actor who was practicing for his starring role in the upcoming production of a Christmas-season television ad spot for Timex.....
Details at ten......
("Takes a licking, but it keeps on ticking")
He'll never be able to do that again!
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