ELEVATOR HORROR IN BX. BUILDING

NY Post ^ | May 20, 2006 | JOE MCGURK and STEFANIE COHEN

[jra]

Several things would have to go wrong for that to happen.

The main reason that seldom happens is that elevators are counterweighted.

[Calvin Locke]

There's the old joke about a guy getting tired of waiting for an elevator. He forced the doors it see if it was coming down.

It was. Age 37.

[metmom]

Oh gross.

[F-117A]

And the paper has this ad right next to the story!

[SteveMcKing]

Thanks for those vivid details. Right before bed, no less.


Thanks a bunch........

[GovernmentShrinker]

I remember that. And the other passengers in the elevator were stuck inside with his head for quite a while before they were rescued.

[CurlyDave]

And the other passengers in the elevator were stuck inside with his head for quite a while before they were rescued.

And the article said he was "partially decapitated".

I interpreted that to mean that his head was partially cut off, but remained attached. I think what they meant was that only part of his head was cut off. That is a much more unsettling concept.

[freddymuldoon]

what's elevator surfing?

[isom35]

riding on top?

[KittyKares]

I hope you don't have nightmares from this.

[KittyKares]

There were a couple of incidents mentioned in Snopes.com about hospital patients on gurneys who were halfway into the elevator when the elevator suddenly drops or goes up, and the patient is smashed.

I don't think I should have opened this thread either. I'm going to be a lot more paranoid around elevators -- especially since where I work, the elevators break down often.

[Fish_Keeper]

That's just horrid. Some guy in my hometown tried to jump out of a stuck elevator in a shopping mall and fell into an uncovered gap trying to get out. Fell some 4 floors down to the bottom of the shaft and died. I can believe this kind of stuff happens more than you would think.

[skr]

And then to be in the elevator for another hour with the poor man's legs.

[Richard Kimball]

I made a call one time on an elevator operator that was working in the basement of a building. He had raised the freight elevator and was working on it. The elevator dropped on him, pinning his leg in the crack you step over when you get out. The elevator company got another repairman there, and he overrode the elevator safety and lifted the elevator up. The guy didn't lose his leg, but it was not a pretty sight. The scream he let out when we raised the elevator was unbelievable.

I made another call on a woman (seven months pregnant) who was working at the old Capitol Hotel in Austin. She was carrying a stack of sheets, and when she pushed the elevator button, the door opened even though the car wasn't there. She stepped into it. Fortunately, she was on the first floor, so she only fell about ten feet and didn't lose the baby. Nasty stuff can happen around elevators, especially old ones.

I don't know about the Snopes articles, but I personally made those two calls.

[Cobra64]

Now I understand why the sign in our elevator at work says not to try and crawl out if stuck between floors.

Is there a sign on the roof that says "Don't Jump"?

[Husker24]

Or worse yet, being stuck in one during a fire.

[Husker24]

I remember a horrible story about someone who died while taking an elevator to the basement of a hotel or something. This was during a Hurricane or flood, anyway the elevator went down and started filling with water and it wouldn't go back up. What a horrible way to die.

[rudy45]

When the elevator doors open, I always hesitate before going in, namely to make sure there really IS a car there. I don't want to step into an empty shaftway. I think the actor Pat Hingle had such an accident, and lost part of a finger that way.

[MrNeutron1962]

To quote an elevator mechanic friend of mine "Elevators will kill you quicker than a bastard"

[3catsanadog]

The TV show L.A. Law killed off a character by way of missing elevator car one season. Took about everyone who watched it by surprise.

A couple weeks ago a construction worker here in Pittsburgh was decapitated when he stuck his head in the freight elevator shaft looking for the elevator.