It can happen with any type of shoe or even bottoms of jeans that are long. My nephew got a shoe string on his tennis shoe caught when he was about six. He screamed and my brother grabbed him. The shoe yanked off of his foot (rather hard). It also tore up the shoe.
I know that a tennis shoe caught in an escalator at Kaufman stadium in Kansas City several years ago caused the escalator to stop abruptly and several people to fall. It is a steep escalator.
I've gotten after my DD several times because the bottom of her jeans drag on the ground and get ragged. I've warned her to be careful on escalators and she looks at me like I'm nuts.