By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Three people were injured Friday after a Penn Station escalator suddenly ground to a halt, sending riders flying, witnesses and FDNY said.
Witnesses said riders were on the large escalator leading into the station from West 34th Street and Seventh Avenue when it suddenly stopped about 1 p.m.
"It looked like the escalator was sped up and I just saw people tumble upon one another," said Andy Rudzitis, a security guard for 1 Penn Plaza, who was stationed at the footstep of the escalator when he heard the screams.
He described people "floating down like a tide on top of each other."
"They were all huddled together. I saw four or five people down on the ground...Some tumbled over the other person that was laying down," said Rudzitis, 62, who lives in Brooklyn.
"They were screaming," he said.
Yauqui Santos was working at the Duane Reade located near the entrance inside the station when the chaotic scene unfolded.
"It just stopped and everyone came into one little pile on the floor," said Santos, 20, who lives in the Bronx. "Everybody started screaming and running out of the store."
While most who had fallen were able to get up, he said three people — a man and two women — who had been thrown from the escalator lay sprawled on the ground.
Police were on scene almost immediately, he said and paramedics took the injured man away on a stretcher.
"He looked pretty bad. His knee was pretty banged up. He was holding it," Santos said.
Three people were sent to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries, the FDNY said. The NYPD did not have any information on the incident.
Rudzitis said this isn't the first time that that particular escalator's had problems.
"Usually it just stops suddenly," he said.
The escalator was still blocked by yellow guard rails and caution tape by late afternoon.
