Woman killed in freak NYC elevator accident

(CBS/AP) 

NEW YORK - An advertising executive was killed in a freak elevator mishap Wednesday at a Madison Avenue office building, police and fire officials said.

The accident happened at around 10 a.m. in a 26-story office tower near Grand Central Terminal that has been the longtime home of advertising agency Y&R, formerly known as Young & Rubicam.

The New York Times identified the victim as 41-year-old Y&R executive Suzanne Hart.

Officials said Hart was stepping onto the elevator on the first floor when either her foot or leg became caught in the closing doors. The car then rose abruptly, dragging her body into the shaft and killing her, officials said.

The elevator then became stuck between the first and second floors. Two people who were on the elevator were taken to a hospital to be evaluated for psychological trauma but weren't physically injured, Fire Department officials said.

Investigators with the fire department, the police department and the city's buildings department were on the scene in midtown Manhattan.

A spokeswoman for Y&R, which announced just days ago that it planned to vacate the building for a new headquarters, confirmed that there had been a fatality but said she couldn't yet provide additional information.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Hart was the Director of New Business, Content and Experience at Y&R, where she had worked since 2007. She was a 1988 graduate of Palos Verdes High School in Calif. and she earned a BA in Fine Art and International Relations from Knox College.

There have reportedly been elevator violations in the building, but it's unclear from when or from which of the building's elevators, CBS New York reports.

The company is among a number of tenants in the building.

Officials initially said they thought the elevator had fallen two floors.

[Kelley89]

Why is a woman's death an arrgument to many others.... If the family were to see this I can only think of the terrible feelings they have. It's a sad story... We don't know what happened, we were not there. It's not a lesson to be learned or an arrgument to be had. It's a tragic death.... Thoughts and payers go out to her family.

[zibulki]

What's the lesson to learn from this - WAIT for the next elevator!

[Overruled1]

I've had my foot broken from an elevator that settled as I stepped out and my foot was caught by the floor and the edge of the level I was walking to. The elevator sank and rose quickly and broke my foot. My boss was astonished and didn't want to believe my story, but he drove me to the hospital where I was treated. Never trust old elevators even in a nice setting, they simply aren't trustworthy.

[addict42]

This seems like something out of a horror film, Final Destination II, the morale of this scarey tale is that when it's your time to go, you have no choice on how it happens.

[wtcmedic911]

Legally, the family doesnt have a leg to stand on.

[raycatcher]

Horrible! We can only hope that she lost consciousness very rapidly. My heart goes out to her family. I can't tell how many times I have stuck my arm into an elevator to stop it from closing. I'll take the stairs from now on.

[rixmix98]

Wow I hadn't thought about that; sticking my arm into an elevator to stop it. I too have done that more times than I can count.

Condolences to her friends and family.

[sepa2]

High heels slows every movement?

[askagain]

There seems to be an assumption by some people that the elevator wasn't inspected or properly maintained. An elevator is a mechanical devive which can malfunction at anytime. Think of your car. You get into it one day and find that the battery is dead or the engine isn't working. You may have done everything in the manual to service your car yet things die or break or wear out. That might have been the case with this elevator.

[Ericwvb]

When I leave the lights on with my car, I don't end up having my limbs ripped off and killed in some horrible way. People engineer these things so they fail in predictable ways. I've been in cars that have malfunctioned, but I've never been in an elevator that took off before the doors closed. That's one of the most basic safety mechanisms, along with the redundant cabling, safety brakes, etc. Modern elevators are extremely safe and many, many things have to go wrong at the same time to cause a fatality to regular users.

[askagain]

Ericwvb - It only has to happen once and someone is dead. If conditions are right, disasters can happen. No matter how well mechanical devices are designed, they can still fail. Certainly, the investigation will likely pinpoint the cause(s) of the accident. The point of my post is that people often jump to conclusions before knowing the facts.

[dccarino]

Terrible tragedy. God bless her Soul and her family.

[Ericwvb]

Poor woman. A horrible way to die!

I am trying to picture how this could happen. Here is my theory:

The elevator doors were closing and she placed her leg in between them. Normally, sensors in the door would sense her leg and the doors would open again. That didn't happen. Also, an elevator shouldn't start moving until the elevator doors are completely closed. That mechanism was apparently also defective.

With her leg inside the elevator car, the elevator started to move up, pulling her up until it severed her leg. Because the elevator doors were still open, the great force of the elevator dragged her body in through the open doors into the elevator shaft. She may have dangled from the bottom of the elevator car for a few floors before being dropped to the bottom of the elevator shaft.

I expect huge lawsuits against the elevator maintenance company and the landlord of the building! Every day, people run into elevators as the doors are closing. It shouldn't kill you!

[sunide]

Wow. Thanks. We all needed your theory.

[Ericwvb]

Well everyone was wondering how this was possible