Mom Seeks $100k in Stroller-Stealing Train Incident

The mother of a 22-month-old girl whose stroller became pinned in a Chicago Transit Authority train doorway last year has filed a negligence lawsuit against the agency almost a year after the incident.

The three-count suit claims that the CTA was negligent and seeks more than $100,000 in damages, court costs, and payment of medical bills for Ebere Ozonwu-Shokunbi and her daughter.

The mother claims the child sustained severe injuries and that she severely injured her shoulder and other parts of her body while attempting to rescue her daughter.

Ozonwu-Shokunbi was heading home work when she boarded a Red Line train with her daughter Nov. 2, 2009 at the Morse Avenue station. 

She told police that the train's doors closed on her stroller and dragged it down the platform.  Her daughter, Rachel, "bounced" out of the stroller and landed on the gravel track bed about 10 feet beyond the platform, she said.

Immediately following the incident, there were conflicting reports on whether the incident happened, or at least happened the way Ozonwu-Shokunbi said it did.

The CTA tested the train door and found it to be working properly, but after paint chips seemed to corroboarate the mothers story, CTA president Richard Rodriguez conceded that the incident was "plausible."

Still, the lack of damage to the stoller -- ultimately recovered five stations away -- forced a union boss to publicly questioned the story.

"There's something not adding up here," Amalgamated Transit Union President Robert kelly said at the time.

The CTA was unable to comment until the suit was reviewed, spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski said Thursday night.