{"id":248,"date":"2026-06-02T22:07:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248"},"modified":"2026-06-02T22:07:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:07:30","slug":"davis-square-neighbors-memorialize-man-caught-by-mbta-escalator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248","title":{"rendered":"Davis Square neighbors memorialize man caught by MBTA escalator"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

On Monday night, around 50 Somerville residents gathered outside the Davis Square T station on Holland Street to mourn the death of Steven McCluskey, a 40-year-old man from South Boston who died in March after falling on an escalator descending into the station.<\/p>\n

Read more Cambridge Public Health Department faces questions following Odunze, Neal absences<\/a><\/p>\n

As the sun set and rush hour slowed, attendees could still hear MBTA announcements from inside the station as they lit candles, sang songs, and placed flowers at the feet of a poster commemorating a man who spent one of his final moments lying one level below them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to touch base with other people and remind ourselves that we know each other and that we need to stand forward when it\u2019s somebody we know and somebody we don\u2019t,\u201d said Davis Square resident Jennifer Simon.<\/p>\n

Simon had only recently learned of McCluskey\u2019s death, via word-of-mouth.<\/p>\n

On February 27, just before 5 a.m., McCluskey stepped onto an escalator descending into the Davis Square T station. A security camera recorded grainy footage of his uneasy steps before he fell at the base. While lying there, NBC10 Boston first reported, McCluskey\u2019s clothes became caught in the moving staircase, and he remained stuck for 20 minutes while more than a dozen subway riders passed him by. By the time an MBTA employee pressed the stop button on the escalator and emergency workers arrived on the scene, NBC10 Boston reported McCluskey\u2019s clothes were wrapped tight around his neck and that he had no pulse. He died 10 days later.<\/p>\n

Video of McCluskey\u2019s fall was not reported until three months later in May, which is when Kellian Pletcher first heard of McCluskey. Although she was initially shocked that no one stopped to help him, she began to see McCluskey\u2019s death as a partial reflection of the Davis Square community she has been a part of for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was surprising, because I want to believe the best of myself and of everybody. But there was a feeling of inevitability about it,\u201d she said. \u201c[Not] that he deserved this, or we deserved this. But it did seem like the culmination of a path that we\u2019ve been on for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an NBC10 report, McCluskey\u2019s sister said McCluskey had been struggling with addiction. And Pletcher saw, in the bystanders who passed him, a \u201cdeep confusion\u201d about how to navigate the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people that are dealing with trauma in different ways in our neighborhood,\u201d said Pletcher, who lives in an apartment off Grove Street. \u201cI think we don\u2019t know what to do other than look away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pletcher wanted to mourn McCluskey with others \u2013\u00a0to do \u201cmore than zero.\u201d She works as a game designer and had never planned a public vigil before. But as she began to publicize a gathering, she found neighbors \u2013previously strangers\u2013 who wanted to do the same. Someone knew a musician who could play a few songs. A florist wanted to donate flowers. And McCluskey\u2019s family members, who were crushed by the lack of intervention for their son, wanted to attend.<\/p>\n

News of the Monday night vigil outside the Davis Square T station spread on Facebook and via word of mouth. Initially, it seemed that TV reporters might outnumber attendees, but as local musician Jonathan Schores played Leonard Cohen\u2019s \u201cHallelulah\u201d on guitar, a crowd of about 50 grew along Holland Street by the station\u2019s entrance. The group sang \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d together, before McCluskey\u2019s sister Shannon Flaherty read two poems written by McCluskey\u2019s brother and sister-in-law.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more CRLS baseball ends postseason drought<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be really easy to hold onto anger, sadness, and pain, but that\u2019s not what [my brother] would want me to do,\u201d Flaherty said to the crowd afterwards.<\/p>\n

Prayer, a call-and-response song, and an Irish blessing followed. A community member read McCluskey\u2019s obituary, highlighting his knack for conversation and carpentry, and love for his two sons. During a moment of silence, mourners placed stemmed flowers near a poster of McCluskey\u2019s photograph. \u201cAs a neighborhood and a community we mourn this loss of life,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really overwhelming,\u201d McCluskey\u2019s mother Mary Flaherty said, of being in Davis Square. \u201cBut the love that was here tonight was just unbelievable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI did lose faith in humanity,\u201d she said, remembering the video of McCluskey\u2019s fall. \u201c[This vigil] showed me that it\u2019s really still there.\u201d<\/p>\n

A medical examiner has yet to rule on McCluskey\u2019s cause and manner of death, as part of the Middlesex County District Attorney\u2019s investigation. On Tuesday, the MBTA, which has described McCluskey\u2019s death as \u201ca terrible accident,\u201d began broadcasting public service announcements highlighting escalator stop buttons for bystanders who see someone in danger. After failing to report McCluskey\u2019s death to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, NBC10 Boston reported that the MBTA has been directed to form a corrective action plan to \u201caddress gaps in the tracking and notification of injury events that later result in a fatality.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of Monday\u2019s vigil, Pletcher led the crowd in a few swingy verses of \u201cLean On Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [McCluskey\u2019s death] will be part of [what] people think about when they think of this community. But it isn\u2019t everything, for good or for bad,\u201d she said in an interview with Cambridge Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould another city have been able to have humans that know how to protect themselves without overlooking strangers in the [subway]? We don\u2019t know. But [ignoring someone in need] is a learned skill, and it can be unlearned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Harvard grad students end strike<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday night, around 50 Somerville residents gathered outside the Davis Square T station on Holland Street to mourn the death of Steven McCluskey, a 40-year-old man from South Boston who died in March after falling on an escalator descending into the station. Read more Cambridge Public Health Department faces questions following Odunze, Neal absences […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[136,54,80],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-davis-square","tag-mbta","tag-public-health"],"yoast_head":"\nDavis Square neighbors memorialize man caught by MBTA escalator - Cambridge Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Davis Square neighbors memorialize man caught by MBTA escalator - Cambridge Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Monday night, around 50 Somerville residents gathered outside the Davis Square T station on Holland Street to mourn the death of Steven McCluskey, a 40-year-old man from South Boston who died in March after falling on an escalator descending into the station. Read more Cambridge Public Health Department faces questions following Odunze, Neal absences […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cambridge Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T22:07:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fd5ad832d9b2ddb71a83fd908922373\"},\"headline\":\"Davis Square neighbors memorialize man caught by MBTA escalator\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T22:07:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248\"},\"wordCount\":964,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f2bd499f6f02936b94e40b7c5d601fc9.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Davis Square\",\"MBTA\",\"public health\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248\",\"name\":\"Davis Square neighbors memorialize man caught by MBTA escalator - Cambridge Moving Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f2bd499f6f02936b94e40b7c5d601fc9.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T22:07:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fd5ad832d9b2ddb71a83fd908922373\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f2bd499f6f02936b94e40b7c5d601fc9.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f2bd499f6f02936b94e40b7c5d601fc9.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2070},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?p=248#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Davis Square neighbors memorialize man caught by MBTA escalator\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cambridge Moving Hub\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fd5ad832d9b2ddb71a83fd908922373\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cambridgemovinghub.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Davis Square neighbors memorialize man caught by MBTA escalator - Cambridge Moving Hub","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Davis Square neighbors memorialize man caught by MBTA escalator - Cambridge Moving Hub","og_description":"On Monday night, around 50 Somerville residents gathered outside the Davis Square T station on Holland Street to mourn the death of Steven McCluskey, a 40-year-old man from South Boston who died in March after falling on an escalator descending into the station. Read more Cambridge Public Health Department faces questions following Odunze, Neal absences […]","og_url":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248","og_site_name":"Cambridge Moving Hub","article_published_time":"2026-06-02T22:07:30+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5fd5ad832d9b2ddb71a83fd908922373"},"headline":"Davis Square neighbors memorialize man caught by MBTA escalator","datePublished":"2026-06-02T22:07:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248"},"wordCount":964,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/f2bd499f6f02936b94e40b7c5d601fc9.jpg","keywords":["Davis Square","MBTA","public health"],"articleSection":["Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248","url":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248","name":"Davis Square neighbors memorialize man caught by MBTA escalator - Cambridge Moving Hub","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/f2bd499f6f02936b94e40b7c5d601fc9.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-02T22:07:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5fd5ad832d9b2ddb71a83fd908922373"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/f2bd499f6f02936b94e40b7c5d601fc9.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/f2bd499f6f02936b94e40b7c5d601fc9.jpg","width":2560,"height":2070},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=248#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Davis Square neighbors memorialize man caught by MBTA escalator"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/","name":"Cambridge Moving Hub","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5fd5ad832d9b2ddb71a83fd908922373","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com"],"url":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}