Crocs–they're surely a fashion crime, but are they dangerous?
A couple in Westminster says so. Allon and Josephine Motzney are suing the maker of the infamous rubber clogs after their 4-year-old daughter lost her little toe while riding an escalator inside JCPenney at Westminster Mall. The Crocs she was wearing got caught in the side of the moving escalator, which apparently is a pretty common thing. In 2008, Colorado-based Crocs Inc. acknowledged in a letter to the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission that it had received 186 claims of escalator injuries. Young children, the only group that should be allowed to wear those things in public, are most at risk.
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According to claims on Snopes.com, the problem may have to do with the clogs' flexibility and grip, the biggest selling points of the shoes. “Some report the shoes get caught in the 'teeth' at the bottom or top of the escalator, or in the crack between the steps and the side of the escalator,” the site reads.
Crocs puts a warning tag on its children's clogs, telling wearers to:
- Stand facing forward in the center of the step.
- Step on and off carefully.
- Do not touch sides below handrail.
- Avoid the sides of the steps where shoe entrapment can occur.
- Supervise children at all times.
But that's not sufficient for the Motzneys, who are asking for $2 million in their lawsuit filed on Jan. 26 in federal court in Santa Ana.
