A 61-year-old Long Island man, Keith McAllister, was fatally injured after entering an MRI room while a scan was underway. The man was wearing a large metal chain around his neck, which resulted in him being sucked into the MRI machine, which led to his death.
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According to a release issued by the Nassau County Police Department, the incident occurred at around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16. Officers responded to the Nassau Open MRI located on Old Country Road. They had received a report of a serious injury at the building.
Upon arrival, officers learned that McAllister had entered an unauthorized MRI room. As he entered the room, an MRI scan was in progress. The 61-year-old man had a large metal chain around his neck, which caused McCallister to be drawn toward the machine.
He was transported to a local hospital and listed in critical condition. One day later, on Thursday, July 17, Keith McAllister succumbed to his injuries.
Victim’s Wife Breaks Silence
Talking about the incident, McAllister’s wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, revealed to News 12 Long Island how she witnessed her husband being pulled by the machine.
“He went limp in my arms, and this is still pulsating in my brain,” Jones-McAllister said.
She revealed that the chain that her husband was wearing at the time weighed 20 pounds. Reportedly, it is a chain McAllister used for weight lifting.
Jones-McAllister was actually the one who had the MRI. She had the diagnostic procedure done on her knee and said that she needed help to get up. Therefore, she told one of the technicians present at the time that he needed her husband to help her off the table.
Reportedly, it was the technician who let McAllister inside the room.
Jones-McAllister said that they had visited Nassau Open MRI before, with McAllister wearing the chain in the past. Furthermore, the technician had seen the chain, according to her.
“That was not the first time that guy has seen that chain,” the woman said. “They had a conversation about it before.”
Currently, the incident is under investigation by the Nassau County Police, according to CBS News. In an interview with the outlet, Dr. Payal Sud said that the injuries that one can sustain in an incident similar to McAllister’s can be “catastrophic.”
“If this was a chain that was wrapped around the neck, I could imagine any kind of strangulation injuries that could happen,” Sud said. “Asphyxiation, cervical spine injuries.”