Crocs Shoes - A Cautionary Tale

[2littleangels]

First of all, I would like to start by saying that I have to take some responsibility for the accident that nearly befell my toddler this weekend. However, I do want to share with other parents what happened in the hope that this doesn't happen to anyone else. My two year old and I were travelling down an escalator, he was stood beside me holding my hand. All of a sudden his croc was sucked into the escalator - at least half of the toe area disappeared. Luckily, because I had my hands free I was able to pull him clear. The escalator stopped, but not before the shoe was mangled.
A passerby commented that this was in fact a common problem with crocs. At home I googled it and found page after page of horrific stories about children losing toes and some pretty nasty photos of the injuries. In several countries it's been all over the media, but as far as I'm aware, not here in HK.
Please be extra vigilant if your child wears them - or better still, use the lift!

[momo]

In fact there had been a few similar incidents in Hong Kong which has been widely reported in the Chinese Press (like Apple Daily, Oriental) but not in the SCMP. In one incident the girl's foot was trapped and could not be released until fireman arrives. In the last month there had been at least 2 such incidents reported in the Chinese Press of Crocs shoes being caught in escalator. I now only let my daughter wear Crocs shoes at the beach. Whilst they are cute I have always wonder whether the shoes provide enough support since they are so soft and roomy.

[bekyboo44]

We were recently in Europe and there was a sign on several escalators warning people to be careful if they were wearing crocs! We were actually wearing them at the time and since then have been very careful.

[joannek]

2littleangels, there was also an incident reported in today's chinese papers. i wsa wondering if your child's foot was anywhere near the side of the escalators when his shoe was trapped? cos my daughter loves to wear her crocs & they so easy for her to take on & off, she always wear them. whenever we are on escalators, i always ask her to stand properly with 2 feet together & not move around. i once hurt my leg badly when i was 5 years old at the escalators, hence escalators scare me.

[mailmail]

Crocs are more dangerous than just escalator incidents. Read this:-

http://www.crocfans.com/post/152

[2littleangels]

Joanne,
He was stood beside me, and he stook his foot our momentarily. He's only 2 and doesn't always do exactly as he's told. In future I'll stand him right in front of me in the middle of the step....only he won't be wearing crocs anymore.

[sunniefaith]

That happened in Spore before as well. Think the girl might have lost 2 of her toes.

[LittleLams]

Yes, there was an incident in Singapore where a 2 year old girl got her little toe severed when her crocs got sucked into the escalator. After hearing about that my little girl only wears her crocs to the beach, playground etc - basically places where there are no escalators!