A man from Long Island has died after he was sucked into an MRI machine. He was reportedly wearing a large metal necklace at the time.
According to a news release by the Nassau County Police Department, the bizarre incident occurred on Wednesday, July 16, in Westbury at around 4:34 PM. Detectives say officers responded to a call from Nassau Open MRI on Old Country Road. Staff told authorities that a 61-year-old man “entered an unauthorized Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) room while the scan was in progress.”
The man was wearing a “large metallic chain around his neck” at the time. Per the NIH, MRI scanners employ powerful magnets with enough force to fling a wheelchair across a room. They are so strong that they reportedly dragged the man into the machine. At the time, the police department said authorities transported the victim to a local hospital in critical condition.
The Victim Died Shortly After The MRI Incident
News 12 Long Island identifies the victim as 61-year-old Keith McAllister. He reportedly suffered several heart attacks after the MRI incident, which claimed his life. His wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, told the outlet that they were at the establishment because she was having an MRI scan on her knee. She reportedly needed help getting up and asked the MRI technician to get her husband.
Jones-McAllister reportedly said that the technician brought her husband into the room. This was despite him wearing a 20-pound metal chain around his neck. The necklace allegedly had a padlock on it, and McAllister used it for weight training. Jones-McAllister described what happened when her husband entered the room. “At that instant, the machine switched him around and pulled him in, and he hit the MRI.” She claims that she tried to pry her husband off the machine with the technician’s help, but the magnets were far too strong.
Jones-McAllister’s daughter, Samantha Bodden, has started a GoFundMe to help with burial costs. The fundraiser also says that several news outlets have claimed that he was not authorized to be in the room, which is incorrect. “In fact, he was, because the technician went and brought him into the room,” the post clarifies. The GoFundMe also claims McAllister “was attached to the machine for almost an hour before they could release the chain from the machine.”
According to a report by People, a spokesperson for the police said they have nothing else to report beyond their original statement. A Medical examiner will complete a report about McAllister’s death.