Mary McAllister, 77, said she is coming to the Board of Health meeting tonight to share her story of being seriously injured by one of the town’s new 95-gallon recycling bins.
McAllister, who lives on Jersey Street, said she was moving her neighbor’s bin — which had been left in her driveway after it was emptied — back to her neighbor’s driveway about five feet away when the accident happened.
“I started to push and the bin tipped toward me,” McAllister told the Current July 28. “I tripped on the lid and went flying into the bin headfirst. My nose was bleeding. I landed on my knee — which is a replacement knee — and hit my head. My hand was crushed between the handle and the bin, and I was in the bin.”
A man driving by spotted McAllister, pulled her out of the bin and called 911.
“Police, fire and EMTs bandaged my hand and got me up,” she said. “I didn’t even realize how badly I was hurt at that point. They said I should go to the hospital because I had a huge goose egg on my forehead.”
McAllister spent five-and-a-half hours in the emergency room, where she received three X-rays, stitches, a splint for her finger and a CT scan to rule out a brain bleed.
“I’m still in the splint and will get my stitches out tomorrow,” she said. She has two black eyes.
McAllister emailed Health Director Andrew Petty the day after the incident but said she never received a response. The Current obtained a copy of her email.
She said she plans to attend tonight’s 7 p.m. Board of Health meeting to urge the town to warn residents about the potential danger.
“I’m an active person. I walk every day. I tap dance twice a week. I’m not a frail person,” she said. “If this had happened to a frail person, they could have died.”
After returning from the hospital, McAllister noticed a barely visible warning on the bin not to move it with its lid open.
“It’s in the tiniest print possible,” she said. “My message is they have got to take the extra step to warn people, because 99% of the people in this town aren’t going to read it. Even if they read it, they’re not going to understand how catastrophic it can be. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
McAllister said she has no plans to ask the town to help pay her medical bills. She said her goal is simply to make residents aware of the potential hazard.
“I look like I’ve been beat up,” she said. “I’m telling you, somebody could die.”
McAllister requested a smaller bin weeks ago, but it has not yet arrived.
The Current reached out to Petty for a comment and did not immediately hear back. Board of Health Chair Dr. Tom Massaro had no comment.
