NYC - Elevator runs amok, mangles ad exec, 41

Madison Avenue advertising executive crushed to death after elevator starts moving with the doors still open (Daily Mail)

A woman was crushed to death today in a freak elevator accident when it began rising as she stepped into it.

Suzanne Hart, 41, from California, who worked at advertising giants Young and Rubicam who have their offices in the building, was halfway onto the elevator when it shot upwards without warning, its doors still open.

A fire official said she was 'mangled up really bad' and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two other people suffered minor injuries in the horrific tragedy, which took place inside a 25-storey building in Manhattan's Madison Avenue.

They were taken to New York University Hospital where they were treated for trauma after they had watched in horror as Ms Hart died.

Fire officials believe the elevator rose at least two floors.
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more, with pictures, at link above

:noooo::gasp:Well, that was my worst nightmare... Poor woman...

crystalgenie said:

:noooo::gasp:Well, that was my worst nightmare... Poor woman...

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Mine too.

I've always been more concerned about escalators eating my feet.

How awful! Poor lady.

I'm with you, wfgodot, I am terrified of escalators! It's weird, because nothing bad has ever happened to me on an escalator, but I have been stuck in an elevator.

Poor everyone in that building that will face that elevator on a daily basis! I doubt (hope) the woman who was killed had time to absorb what was happening-- the folks with her though, oh my...

Horrific negligence on the part of the building owners, as those elevators had many violations before this "accident." In the comment section someone noted we may see more of this type of thing as companies cut costs/corners in their maintenance budgets. :tsktsk:

This was so tragic, I just shook listening to the story all day today on the news. I heard that the people who work in that building are so afraid to take an elevator. They interviewed a woman who works on the 17th floor who said she's walking up. I heard it happened so fast she didn't have a chance, poor thing.

When I lived in Dallas, Texas, and worked downtown, it wasn't even the slightest bit unusual to see an elevator door standing open with no car present. Or to have an elevator door open and the floor be chest or head-high. It wasn't even unusual enough to be worth a quick side-glance. It was the norm. Elevators had no "inspection" stickers and as far as I know there were no regulations requiring that elevators be kept in a safe state of maintenance. They sure weren't.

MrsG728 said:

This was so tragic, I just shook listening to the story all day today on the news. I heard that the people who work in that building are so afraid to take an elevator. They interviewed a woman who works on the 17th floor who said she's walking up. I heard it happened so fast she didn't have a chance, poor thing.

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I do hope she never had a chance to know or feel what happened. May she RIP.

For me, this is the kind of thing that makes me believe, when it's your time, it's your time.

OMG - this story makes me dizzy and weak in the knees - that poor, poor woman!.

I don't like elevators anyway, and my daughter has a wonky one at her apartment building that I'm always warning her about.

*clings to desk on ground floor*

*has a one-story house too*

This story may become the icon of the term "freak accident."

I don't worry about escalators eating my feet. They don't eat feet.

They eat arms.

So there I was, going up an escalator one year (Nordies? Macy's? One of them), wearing a denim jacket. It had buttons on it. I was carrying things that made my jacket bunch to the side. I did not realize, until I went to step off, that the escalator handrail had somehow snagged a button on my jacket.

Now, bear in mind, this was a weekend, and iirc, near the holidays. This was a busy, main escalator. And there I was, stuck to the escalator, people behind me. Thinking as fast as I've ever thought, I threw my bundles off the escalator, stripped out of my jacket (and my shirt..ahem...I wasn't sure what was caught, so I grabbed my shirt hem and yanked).

The escalator didn't stop. I don't know why, as a big wad of fabric was there, but it didn't stop. Someone at the side of the escalator managed to reach the emergency stop button, but it took a moment or three for it to actually stop moving.

In the meanwhile, there I stood, in my bra, watching people try to avoid me, the wad of material, and various bits of bundles I had tossed. Once it finally stopped, I kinda looked around, and saw a few emergency people heading our way.

Me and three others got checked out, my jacket was replaced, and I got all the bundles to take home for free. I believe they did this for other people, too. And one of the clerks came running over with a brand new sweater for me to wear, as well...considering I was showing what God put on my chest to all and sundrie.

To the store's credit, they immediately had mainenance folks out and trying to figure out what had happened...and had the escalator blocked off. They also blocked off all the other escalators, too, and made sure they were in working order.

I remember being confused as to why I couldn't get off the elevator, and then, quickly realizing what was going on, taking action. Thankfully, I was able to escape unscathed. But I don't like escalators at all any more...and will avoid them if possible.

I don't believe that this poor woman had any understanding as to what happened, and I'm very sure there was no suffering. If it happened as fast as I think it did, there wasn't even a chance for her to feel pain...

Godspeed to her, and to her family. And big prayers for those who witnessed this...and who were injured as well. How utterly, horrifically, traumatic and devastating...for everyone involved.

Best-
Herding Cats

Oh jeez, why?! :gasp:

Next thing you know I'm gonna log on and read that someone fell into one of those downtown sidewalk grates. Egads!

Oh, my....

Fatal Accident Elevator Underwent Maintenance Hours Before

Investigators looking into a fatal elevator accident in New York revealed today that the maintenance workers had been performing work on the elevator hours before it crushed 41-year-old Suzanne Hart on her way to work.

“Workers from Transel were performing electrical maintenance work on the elevator involved in the accident hours before it malfunctioned,” Tony Sclafani, the chief spokesman for the New York City Department of Building, told ABCNews.com."

I have been in that building and maybe even used that elevator! How horrifying for everybody that works there. RIP Ms. Hart.

I used to be "ok" with elevators, but I think that just changed. Like others I have been more afraid of escalators. When I was a child a long, long time ago, one of my friends fell on an escalator and lost a finger.

'Billion-to-one' power surge may be to blame for Madison Avenue
elevator tragedy, as repair company's safety record is called into question

• Workers in other Manhattan buildings report trouble with their elevators, maintained by same repair company, Transel
• Suzanne Hart died in tragic accident on Wednesday in Manhattan
• Boyfriend Chris Dickson says: 'I don't have any words for this'
• Caught as doors closed and got dragged up and crushed to death
• Father describes her as 'the most marvellous daughter imaginable

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lengthy article, many pictures at Sunday Mail link above

ChasingMoxie said:

Oh jeez, why?! :gasp:

Next thing you know I'm gonna log on and read that someone fell into one of those downtown sidewalk grates. Egads!

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That happened years ago in Cincinnati... It was a bad fall and the victim died.

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Absolutely freaks me out. I'm really nervous on escalators too. thanks Herding Cats for even more to fear!!! lol. But elevators, I do not trust them, but whattaya gonna do?

Has anyone ever had to ride the elevators in the 450 Sutter Building in San Francisco? I used to work there, it's an old building and the elevators go so fast if there are no stops. They are super creaky and they freaking zoom to the bottom floor. They instill fear in me every time I ride them...every time.

I feel so bad for this woman and her family and her co-workers!!! Can't imagine having to deal with that.

Elevator haters
Pre-death lawsuits vs. firm


"The maintenance company responsible for the elevator that crushed a Madison Avenue ad exec to death faces a litany of lawsuits filed by people who claim they were injured in its lifts, The Post has learned."

"There are at least eight active cases against Transel, including a suit brought by a Union Square building super who plunged down an elevator shaft when he stepped through doors that opened before the cab arrived."

“It’s like going into a black hole . . . I was screaming the whole time in agony,” said John Goldsmith, 46, of Rockville Centre, LI, who was permanently injured in the 2007 incident at 17-19 Union Square West."



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/elevator_haters_D1BXLNsS5DbDVQTywIhgvJ#ixzz1hprb0Z1t

Elevators in building where Manhattan ad exec died had numerous problems

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/elevator_woes_at_mad_SxAEYRajLE72fIDQaDZz0J#ixzz1jF8G7mTP


"Elevator problems were an epidemic at the building where a Manhattan ad executive died in a horrific accident last month, newly revealed Buildings Department records show."

"City inspectors wrote 11 violations against 13 elevators at 285 Madison Ave. in the immediate aftermath of the Dec. 14 tragedy that killed Suzanne Hart, 41, the public records show."

"Investigators are still trying to determine the exact cause of the malfunction that killed the Brooklyn resident."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/probes_going_up_jxGSRycgilQw9XmG45rZUL

One Year Later, City Elevator Inspections way Up