'Young and Rubicam' Elevator Traps and Crushes Woman to Death in NY
A New York woman stepped into an elevator Wednesday morning and became caught in the elevator gap, when it unexpectedly shot up causing her to get crushed between floors.
The elevator’s safety mechanism failed to operate correctly and jumped two floors without the doors properly closing. Suzanne Hart, 41, was killed in front of two others who had entered the elevator just before her.
A call reporting the accident came in at about 10 a.m. according to the New York Fire Department. "We heard banging and screaming," said John Hana of the nearby Riflessi clothing, "People came out and were saying a lady got crushed in the elevator."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The two witnesses were rescued from the elevator, which had jammed between the first and second floor, and were taken to a hospital. Police and Fire Department officials reported that neither appeared to be injured.
The accident occurred at a 26-foot building in midtown Manhattan, which housed Hart’s company Y&R formerly known as Young & Rubicam.
An investigation has begun with the buildings safety department whose spokesman, Tony Sclafani said the elevator was inspected in June and no safety issues were found then. According to him, the last time the elevator received a violation for a safety hazard was in 2003, and the condition was corrected.
Hart was a director of business development at Y&R and a Brooklyn resident. Hart’s father, a Florida resident, told media, “I could not have asked for a better daughter, that's for certain.”
The building was immediately evacuated after the accident, and the use of the elevator has currently been suspended pending the investigation.
A Department of Buildings spokeswoman reported to the Wall Street Journal that New York City's roughly 60,000 elevators had an accident rate of less than 0.1 percent in 2010.
