A 6-year-old boy suffered critical injuries in an elevator accident after falling down the elevator shaft of a six-story Bronx building. According to a report in The New York Times, the boy was unconscious when police and firefighters arrived at the building the afternoon of April 21. They found him on top of an elevator cab in the basement of the building on Grand Concourse near East 168th Street.
The boy, who had fallen after opening an unlocked door to the elevator at the building’s roof, suffered a fractured skull and bodily injuries, based on the news report. He was transported to an area hospital for treatment. The boy was in his first-floor apartment with a home attendant who was there to care for him. Police said his grandfather was also there with him. At some point, the grandfather heard the apartment door slam and noticed that the boy was gone.
Numerous Building Violations
Investigators determined through security video that the boy had climbed the stairs to the sixth floor and up the roof via a second staircase. He then opened an unlocked door to the elevator shaft, police said. The Times reports a grate located behind that elevator door only partially covered the open shaft and the boy had fallen through a half-foot gap that was present.
Conditions at that building have given rise to dozens of complaints and concerns spanning several decades including numerous violations involving elevators, according to the Times’ examination of New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) records. Three elevator-related violations dating to 2020 and 2021 had not been resolved as of April 21, the records show. Violations involve defects found by a private elevator inspector during routine inspections required under city law.
In one case, two elevators lacked a system meant to stop them from moving when the doors were open, according to a DOB spokeswoman. Inspectors have issued more than 40 other violation notices involving elevators at the building since 1989, records show. All of them were either dismissed or resolved, officials said.
In addition, there are 28 open violations involving cracked bathroom walls or floors, defective smoke detectors and radiators and potential lead paint. DOB investigators are reportedly looking into how the child got access to the elevator shaft including whether there were problems with the doors leading to the shaft.
Elevator Accidents Involving Children
There have been other tragic elevator accidents in New York City involving children. In 2014, a 12-year-old girl sustained serious injuries when she plunged 35 feet down an elevator shaft at a SoHo co-op. In 2016, a 4-year-old boy suffered fatal injuries after falling down an elevator shaft at a Brooklyn parking garage.
In that same year, a 6-week-old girl in a stroller fell eight stories to her death in an elevator shaft at a Brooklyn high-rise. In that horrific case, the girl’s mother had called the elevator to the 23rd floor and pushed the stroller in when the door opened. But the elevator had stopped at the 15th floor and wasn’t there causing the stroller carrying the infant to fall down.
Responsibility of Property Owners/Managers
Property owners and/or property managers must ensure that the elevators and escalators in their buildings are well maintained and safe to operate. They can be held accountable for injuries and losses caused by an elevator accident, particularly if they failed to have the elevator maintained or didn’t make timely repairs. Some of the other parties who can be held responsible include elevator maintenance companies — for instance, when they fail to perform the repair and maintenance work correctly, and/or elevator manufacturers, for any component or equipment failure or due to defective design/manufacturing.
Injured victims can file a premises liability lawsuit against at-fault property owners and/or managing agents, elevator maintenance companies, etc. and seek compensation for damages including, but not limited to, medical expenses, lost wages and benefits, hospitalization, permanent injuries, disabilities, past and future pain and suffering, etc. Those who have lost loved ones in elevator accidents may be able to file wrongful death lawsuits against the negligent (careless) parties seeking compensation for their losses as well.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been injured in an elevator/escalator accident or suffered injuries as a result of negligence (carelessness) on the part of property owners and/or property managers, elevator maintenance companies, etc., the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
Our law firm recovered $3,000,000 for a man who fell and suffered two broken legs when he walked into an open elevator shaft. In an interview by the Canadian television station Global News after a fatal escalator accident in Montreal, Mr. Kenneth A. Wilhelm stated that the installation of emergency stop buttons that are easily located and run the entire length of the escalator stairs may go a long way in preventing escalator accident injuries and fatalities. Our law firm helped a client secure $1,750,000 in a case where she suffered an ankle injury requiring surgery when the elevator she was in fell four floors due to negligence (carelessness) on the part of the elevator maintenance company. In addition, we got the workers’ compensation insurance company to pay a $150,000 lump sum for future medical benefits. Also, one of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury and/or medical malpractice cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/nyregion/bronx-elevator-shaft-boy-falls.html