[visualops]

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.

[o_1_2_3__]

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.

[EBH]

That’s because it wasn’t a stall!

[holyscroller]

Most bathroom stalls have doors high enough that a normal-sized person could slide under the door. Kids do it all the time much to their mother’s horror at the filth they’re sliding around in.