"There's no reason this should have happened to my daughter," said Alison Pregliasco, Lexi's mother. "She was holding onto the rail...I heard her screaming and tried to pull her foot out and it wouldn't come out and the escalator just kept going down. And, I just started screaming at the top of my lungs, 'Somebody stop this thing, somebody stop this thing. We have to make it stop.'"

Pregliasco said it took 15 minutes to get her daughter's right foot out of the escalator. EMTs took the child to the hospital, where doctors put pins in her foot and performed surgery to clean bones and remove contaminated skin.

"Three broken toes, two pretty severely broken, the other is just a hairline fracture," said Pregliasco. "The toe was severed down to the bone and they called it a 'dirty wound' because they had escalator grease in there."

Crocs is currently being sued over a similar incident. The company responded to that lawsuit by saying that they "take escalator safety seriously."

The CPSC recently issued a warning about "some shoes" causing more risk of entrapment on escalators than others, but were careful not to specify which brand of shoes they were talking about.

CPSC is aware of 77 entrapment incidents since January 2006, with about half resulting in injury. All but two of the incidents involved popular soft-sided flexible clogs and slides.

Girl, 3, Injured On Airport Escalator [WSBTV](Thanks, Ryan!)

Crocs CEO says:

"Current macrotrends in the environment" have led to weaker-than-expected sales, according to Crocs Chief Executive Ron Snyder, speaking to analysts during a conference call on Tuesday.

The Washington Metro _ one of the nation's largest transit systems _ has even posted ads warning about such shoes on its moving stairways. The ads feature a photo of a crocodile, which is the company logo, though the signs don't mention Crocs by name..

Crocs shares plummet 40 percent after outlook slashed [Reuters]
Japan seeks design change for Crocs because of injuries [CNNMoney]
(Photo:loop_oh)

Crocs makes really stupid looking shoes that have unfortunately become faddish. They can also get stuck in escalators leading to a very scary time as you try to pry your child from the ceaselessly churning stairs of death. Several injuries have been reported.

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america/

STILL OPEN FOR VOTING: Google Vs Sony, Ticketmaster vs Wachovia, Facebook vs The American Arbitration Association, Comcast vs Menu Foods

Now a family from Westchester has filed a lawsuit that claims that their child was "severely and permanently" injured in November 2007, when her Croc got caught in a escalator at JFK airport.

From the NY Daily News:

"The skin was peeled off her toe," lawyer Andrew Laskin said. "It's a pretty horrifying injury. And it's also horrible for a parent to witness your child injured in this way and suffering."

"Crocs shoes are completely safe. The popularity of our shoes has helped draw attention to a long-existing issue that we think is very important—escalator safety"

"Escalator safety is an issue we take very seriously, and we are looking into this report."

Suit: Crocs shoe led to 3-year-old girl's toe accident on JFK escalator [Daily News]
Can Crocs Be Dangerous To Your Child? [City News]

According to a discussion going on over at Wise Bread, more and than a few children have been seriously injured when their Crocs or other rubber clogs stuck to a moving elevator. A few children have actually had toes ripped off by the escalator.

That this was even possible would not have occurred to us, so we thought we'd pass the information along to those of you who have kids. It's probably not a good idea to allow your children to wear these shoes on escalators. The parent of a recently injured child wrote to Wise Bread:

There is no point in raising arguments along the lines of escalators being inherently dangerous for children, or of the possibility of similar accidents with every other kind of footwear, or of parents being solely responsible for the safety of their children when under their care. The fact is that so many children have been hurt because the traction of their clogs is unsuitable for escalators. This danger had come to our attention prior to the accident involving my very own daughter, which is why we are always very careful when making her ride the escalator with her Crocs on. She even constantly recites the line "stay on the center," as we always remind her to do so. But it just took a millisecond for us to fall victim to an already familiar mishap. Being careful just wasn't enough.

Wise Bread also linked this news video about the issue. It offers Croc's official response:

"Crocs shoes are completely safe. The popularity of our shoes has helped draw attention to a long-existing issue that we think is very important—escalator safety"

More children hurt in Crocs-related accidents. [Wise Bread]

Anyhow, according to an announcement from Crocs, we'll soon be left behind on the whole "plastic shirt" thing, too.

Yes, Crocs will soon being manufacturing clothing out of something called "Croslite rt." It's similar to the substance that the shoes are made out of, but more "relaxed."

The material will come in colors that complement your Crocs. Won't you be sexy?

Plastic fantastic: Crocs launch clothing range [Daily Mail]
(Photo:Daily Mail)

The ninth hymen of the apocalypse just broke.

Strangely popular gaudy shoemaker Crocs yesterday purchased strangely chintzy footwear accessory firm Jibbitz. In addition to the gemstones we posted yesterday, Jibbitz also sells Halloween themed Crocs add-ons. Barf me a river.

"Crocs to Buy Jibbitz" [Reuters] (Thanks to Brandon!)

Wearing Crocs boldly shouts, "I'm simultaneously unique and trendy." Likewise, sporting Jibbitz declares unbridledly, "I have optical cancer, and I want to give it to you."

Jibbitz Official Website. (Thanks to Brandon!)

For bonus fun, set your volume on "stun" and run the cursor repeatedly over the logo.