It’s saddening, the amount of people dying for little-to-no reason. Now, we’ve lost yet another young woman in a horrifying accident that could’ve probably been prevented.
Friends and family are mourning 22-year-old Malaysia Goodson, who died after she fell down a flight of MTA stairs Monday night. The mom was attempting to carry her daughter, who was seated in a stroller, down the stairs at the 53rd/7th Avenue station in Midtown Manhattan. According to the NY Times, she was unconscious and unresponsive when officials arrived to the scene. Goodson was then taken to Mount Sinai West hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to police. Her 1-year-old daughter Rhylee was in good condition and treated at the scene, and has now been reunited with her father and grandmother.
Goodson’s brother Shawn told the NY Times he wished he could have helped her, adding that she’d been in NYC for a shopping trip with her cousin. As for what exactly killed the young mom, the site reports “It was not clear whether Ms. Goodson suffered from a medical condition or if she was killed from the impact of the fall. The city’s medical examiner will determine her cause of death, officials said.”
Spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Shams Tarek commented that “it is a heartbreaking tragedy,” informing the news outlet that the MTA would work with police to investigate Goodson’s death. The message is too little, too late as social media is disgusted with the fact that most of the subway stations in NYC are not fully accessible—and a person died because of it.
“Only a quarter of the subway system is accessible, keeping thousands of elderly and disabled NYers from the system and leading to horrible incidents like this. Riders deserve a specific time frame on the agency’s plans to achieve full accessibility,” borough president Gale A. Brewer tweeted.
“In addition to serving an essential purpose for people with disabilities, surveys show elevators are widely used by parents with strollers and older people who struggle with stairs. They’re not just nice-to-have, they’re essential. And yet…For years the MTA dragged its heels on station accessibility, resulting in the least accessible major subway system in the nation,” @TransitCenter commented.
“Twitter, I’ve nearly done this with Elijah. I’ve carried his stroller down New York subway steps, thinking to myself: ‘if I slip, I’ll fall backwards with the stroller on top of me & wrap my body around it so he’s okay.’ Maybe offer to help people carrying strollers,” another mom tweeted.
We are praying for the Goodson family at this time and may Malaysia rest in peace.
