Railings are JUST what they say. They are for holding on. It is ridiculous to lose your life just to ride down the railings when the rails are for hand holding. What a shame. If the 2nd man was being responsible, I feel terrible for him. Hopefully we could all learn something from this.

was he sitting on the rail? and, was he holding onto the rail?

if not, were any other people on the escalator injured? since it is, you know, Atlantic City.

He should have hedged the risks and taken the stairs.

And I'm afraid to even step out onto balconies! (My fear is that I will temporarily lose my mind and jump.) Just one moment's extreme foolishness is all it takes.

I guess it's possible for it to stop abruptly when you don't exactly have your footing and fall forward in a slant. What a terrible way to go.

I'm gathering he was doing something unsafe, like sitting on the handrail, that caused him to fall from an escalator.

I'm constantly amazed at how many "smart" people do ridiculously stupid things.

What of the last two years would make you assume that a hedge fund manager was in the slightest smart?

True.

Possibly, but escalators are very dangerous and prone to malfunction. One of the leading elevator manufacturers stopped installing new escalators sometime ago because of the potential liability associated with them. Now, they only service existing installations.

yeah escalators could also be fatal when you are drunk...