Woman Alleges 'Dexter' Ad Caused Fall, Files Lawsuit

June 26, 2014 -- A New York woman fell victim to a fictional serial killer, her lawsuit claims.

Ajanaffy Njewadda was walking down the steps toward the subway at Grand Central Terminal in New York City last June when she fell and broke her ankle because an advertisement for the cable television series “Dexter” caused her to panic, according to her lawsuit filed last week in Bronx Supreme Court.

Njewadda and her husband, a former Gambian diplomat, are suing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Showtime, which produces the drama series. Their lawsuit targets the ad itself, which the couple calls “dangerous, hazardous and shocking,” as well as its placement at the Grand Central subway station.

It was June 20, 2013, when Njewadda says she was headed toward the subway but stopped when she noticed her husband hadn’t made it through the turnstile. As Njewadda turned to find him “she was confronted with … a semi-submerged but dramatically oversized photograph” of Dexter, the Showtime serial killer character, that had been superimposed on the stairwell, according to her lawsuit.

The “shocking and menacing” face portrayed by Michael C. Hall so startled her that she panicked, lost her balance and fell down the steps, breaking her ankle, the lawsuit says.

Njewadda is suing the MTA and Showtime for “placing a tripping or falling hazard” in a public walkway. The lawsuit says the defendants “deliberately created or caused a dangerous tripping … condition to exist.”

MTA officials declined to comment on the matter, citing pending litigation.

The poster advertised the final season of Showtime’s “Dexter.”