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Family Sues After Woman Gets Trapped In Queens Burger King Restroom, Dies
CBS Local ^ | 10 Dec 15 | CBS staff

Posted on 12/12/2015 4:02:05 AM PST by SkyPilot

A Queens woman died after allegedly getting trapped in a local Burger King restroom, and now, her family has sued the fast food chain.

As CBS2’s Ilana Gold reported, Shirley McCarthy’s family has also detailed what happened during her final moments at the Burger King on 82nd Street in Jackson Heights.

The incident happened on Sept. 27. McCarthy’s boyfriend, Ricardo Knox, still struggles to cope.

“I wake up every morning and it feels like I’m in a dream,” Knox said. “Shirley didn’t deserve to die in that bathroom. She wanted to live like everybody else. God bless her soul.”

Knox said McCarthy, 47, didn’t feel well, so she went into the single-stall restroom and locked the door. Moments later, she had the symptoms of a seizure and fell on the bathroom floor.

McCarthy could not reach the door handle, so she started screaming for help.

(Excerpt) Read more at newyork.cbslocal.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: business; fastfood; lawsuit; newyork
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To: FlingWingFlyer

21 posted on 12/12/2015 4:37:44 AM PST by C210N (When people fear government there is tyranny; when government fears people there is libertye)
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To: SkyPilot

“Ever notice how these families only sue companies with deep pockets? “

What an amazing observation! Of course it’s not going to do much good to sue a company that doesn’t have any money now is it?


22 posted on 12/12/2015 4:41:01 AM PST by dljordan (WhoVoltaire: "To find out who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.")
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To: samtheman

It’s a ‘The Far Side’ by Gary Larson.

Great stuff.


23 posted on 12/12/2015 4:45:41 AM PST by BBB333 (Q: Which is grammatically correct? Joe Biden IS or Joe Biden ARE an idiot?)
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To: cripplecreek
She wasn't "trapped", she had a seizure with no one around to help and being unable to open the stall door is irrelevant.

The same could have happened in her own bathroom or even in her front yard.

Yeah...but where's the money in that???

24 posted on 12/12/2015 4:49:38 AM PST by mountn man (The Pleasure You Get From Life, Is Equal To The Attitude You Put Into It)
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To: mountn man

Maybe she could sue the company that made her lawn mower.

The grass was too high and she was trapped in the 3 inch grass.


25 posted on 12/12/2015 4:50:52 AM PST by cripplecreek (Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.)
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To: cripplecreek

Talk about a dead stick...


26 posted on 12/12/2015 4:51:54 AM PST by mountn man (The Pleasure You Get From Life, Is Equal To The Attitude You Put Into It)
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To: Gaffer

Lack of oxygen to the brain the cause of death for almost every human being. The only other possible cause of death is the brain being physically torn apart.

As that is a given, cause of death is generally answering the question, what caused lack of oxygen to the brain.


27 posted on 12/12/2015 4:54:35 AM PST by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: Gaffer

Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding... You just hit the nail on the head. And the lawyer gets 60%.

As an aside; lawyers “Deserve”to die in a BK bathroom. just sayin


28 posted on 12/12/2015 4:57:30 AM PST by mistfree (It's a very uncreative man who can't think of more than one way to spell a word.)
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To: mountn man

Time to BAN doors on public bathrooms! Feds r moving on that bill as we speak..


29 posted on 12/12/2015 4:57:49 AM PST by conservative_cyclist (I want my parents country back!)
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To: cripplecreek

No, they are saying because they couldn’t get in to help her.
From the article:
“McCarthy could not reach the door handle, so she started screaming for help.

“I pulled the handle,” Knox said. “The handle broke off in my hand.”

Knox said the lock could only be accessed from the inside of the restroom. He said he did whatever he could to try to pry the door open, but nothing worked.

When firefighters arrived, they had to use an axe to smash open the door and get the mother of four to the hospital, Knox said.

“If I would have gotten to the door when I heard her and I opened the door, she would have been standing here today,” Knox said.

McCarthy’s sons said doctors claimed she had brain damage from a prolonged lack of oxygen.”


I’m not sure how the restaurant could remedy this, since I for one wouldn’t want somebody outside the stall to open it, and generally stalls don’t “lock” it’s just a little slide bolt. If you can’t open it from the outside why not climb over? Stalls never are more than maybe 5 1/2 to 6’ tall at most.


30 posted on 12/12/2015 4:59:52 AM PST by visualops (artlife.us)
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To: Gaffer

Insurance companies will settle whether the insured wants to or not. Burger King may be self-insured with lawyers on the payroll for this kind of thing. In that case it may be game on.


31 posted on 12/12/2015 5:00:22 AM PST by meatloaf
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To: KSCITYBOY
Regardless of what killed her. She went in the stall and locked it. How did the proper functioning of the door cause her death. A swing and miss in the lawsuit sweepstakes!

Exactly. A LOT of smaller restaurants have a sliding bolt on the door that by design CANNOT be opened from the outside without serious force.

And what's this about an "antiquated" lock on a Burger King? No Burger King's that I know of use pre-existing buildings, and Burger King didn't make its way to Queens until at least the '70s. A lot of places have door knobs older than that.
32 posted on 12/12/2015 5:01:23 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: meatloaf

That’s true. Insurance companies will look at the policy limit and the cost to defend and put that in their internal formula.....


33 posted on 12/12/2015 5:01:54 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: cripplecreek
Maybe she could sue the company that made her lawn mower.

The grass was too high and she was trapped in the 3 inch grass.

Or the cut grass caused her to have a seizure as an allergic reaction.

If the lawn mower didn't cut the grass, she wouldn't have had the allergic reaction...Yeah, Yeah...that's the ticket.

(note to self...buy John Deere lawn mower)

(Oops...already own one, but then it wouldn't be a funny joke)

34 posted on 12/12/2015 5:02:53 AM PST by mountn man (The Pleasure You Get From Life, Is Equal To The Attitude You Put Into It)
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To: SkyPilot

Since when is a person having a seizure able to scream for help?


35 posted on 12/12/2015 5:05:15 AM PST by GnuThere
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To: conservative_cyclist
Probably sue BK because it wasn't a transgendered bathroom...

Even if the victim wasn't transgendered.

Oops...my bad

...I think BK is the real victim here.

36 posted on 12/12/2015 5:05:41 AM PST by mountn man (The Pleasure You Get From Life, Is Equal To The Attitude You Put Into It)
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To: cripplecreek

Actually it’s possible there was no stall inside a larger room, and it was just the locked restroom. In that case there should have been a key to open it from the outside. If the door lock did not have a key then they will win the case, which will likely never go to trial.


37 posted on 12/12/2015 5:06:22 AM PST by visualops (artlife.us)
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To: GnuThere

“she had the symptoms of a seizure”

So we don’t really know. An autopsy would show. Perhaps she was having a heart attack. It seems she was able to at least initially call for help and perhaps convey her symptoms.


38 posted on 12/12/2015 5:10:54 AM PST by visualops (artlife.us)
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To: visualops
The handle broke off in my hand.

I have some difficulty accepting this at face value.

Assuming he's talkng about the main entry door handle (and not the stall), those handles are usually stainless-steel levers, institutional type and well made. But even if it did happen as he said -- surely an employee could have been found and, failing that, someone with a cellphone to dial 9-11.

But alas...the hot-coffee-on-the-leg thing has been played out.

39 posted on 12/12/2015 5:11:23 AM PST by o_1_2_3__ (Obama lied, people died - Holiday Edition)
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To: kearnyirish2

No locks will be permitted on rest room doors sounds like a more likely liberal response.


40 posted on 12/12/2015 5:19:42 AM PST by Boomer One ( ToUses)
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