Cell phone in toilet makes it flush hour

This guy's all wet!
A man riding a Metro-North train dropped his cell phone in a toilet and got his arm stuck trying to retrieve it Thursday, forcing the train to stop and delaying the evening commute for thousands of people.

Edwin Gallart, 41, of the Bronx, was stuck with his arm in the toilet for 90 minutes, The Advocate of Stamford reported in Friday’s editions.

The incident happened on the 6:19 p.m. train from Grand Central Terminal. Crew members were alerted to the problem at about 59th Street, a few blocks north of Grand Central.

“A customer aboard the train contacted the conductor to say there was a customer in the toilet in distress,” Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker said. “Soon our entire Hudson Line was in distress.”

The conductor called for a supervisor, or trainmaster, who boarded the train at 125th Street to help, Brucker said.

As the train continued north on the Harlem Line, the trainmaster tried to remove Gallart’s arm from the stainless steel commode, Brucker said.

Twenty minutes later, at 6:38 p.m., police and firefighters boarded the train at Fordham station and began helping Gallart, Brucker said.

Meanwhile, passengers were evacuated and thousands of commuters were delayed because the train sat blocking the platform as the rescue work continued, Brucker said.

Other trains were prevented from reaching the platform at Fordham, and they couldn’t stop at four stations to the north as well because they were prevented from switching to the correct track, Brucker said.

Firefighters tried a variety of methods to extricate Gallart’s arm. They ended up taking apart the entire toilet, Brucker said.

Gallart’s arm was removed and he was treated and released from a Fordham-area hospital, Brucker said. His cell phone wasn’t retrieved.

The railroad’s maintenance department estimated the toilet would take two days and “several thousand dollars” to fix, Brucker said.

[Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...-118169c.html]

That's what I hate about cell phones.... dropped calls.

Good imitation of the Pastry of Doom there, Ronn. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[ 11-04-2003, 11:10 AM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]

"“A customer aboard the train contacted the conductor to say there was a customer in the toilet in distress,” Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker said. “Soon our entire Hudson Line was in distress.”"

[img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img] Ok. Maybe someone can go somewhere with this. Just seems so funny to me.

Sure, I'll go somewhere with it. Imagine I'm a guy in a terrorist cell in the U.S. I read this and *bing* a big bright light goes off in my head. And I start thinking, hmmm.... wtf are we trying for airports when all the other commuter lanes are WIIIIDE OPEN. Not only can I easily board the train with my C-4 model briefcase, but I can stop the train easily as well. Oh, and then there are the buses. :(

Oh... did you mean somewhere funny? [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

[ 11-04-2003, 01:04 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]

Good one Timber. Actually I was focused on the words "toilet" and "distress". I had a dirty thought about all the people wanting to go pottie after being distressed. :D

the proverbial monkey-hand trap. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

timber - if i'm a terrorist, i'm thinking "who needs, c4? i'll just bung up the toilets." i can see the headlines "Dozens of Swarthy Men Clog Toilets, City in Chaos" [img]graemlins/1dizzy.gif[/img]

hahaha! [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img] i can probably tolerate stupid and funny terrorists like that.

Pastry of Doom?? :rolleyes:

Anyways, I'm wondering if the guy got his phone back, and if it worked, "Can you hear me (toilet water echo..)? Can you hear me NOW? Can you hear me NOW? OK. How bout now? :D

After they took the toilet appart with a blowtorch, they were unable to locate to phone ;)