New York elevator accident continues to affect workers

We have been following the story of the Dec. 14 elevator accident that took the life of a New York woman. The woman had stepped onto the elevator at the exact moment in which it spontaneously began to rise, trapping the woman between the bottom of the elevator and the ceiling of the floor above.

The premises liability tragedy has affected many more people than just the woman and her family. We often forget that accidents such as these generally do not occur in isolation. There are more often than not many witnesses to these events, especially in New York City.

The gruesome elevator accident was no different. It occurred during the busy morning hours when many people were in the building. A 36-year-old co-worker had witnessed the entire event from the elevator itself. She said that the experience was so traumatizing that she has not been able to step onto an elevator “out of fear of bodily injury and/or death.”

Not only could the woman have possibly been the victim had she been delayed by seconds, but after watching her co-worker being crushed to death she was stuck in the elevator cab for “an extended period of time.” She was also hurt when the elevator sprung back down after the incident.

The woman had worked for Y&R — the advertising firm that owned the building where the accident occurred — for 12 years before the accident happened.

The physical, mental and emotional trauma prompted the young woman to file a complaint with the Manhattan Supreme Court. Although the elevators were shut down after the accident, one elevator was set to open on Tuesday, Jan. 3.

Source: New York Daily News, “Co-worker of woman killed in macabre midtown elevator accident files legal action,” Barbara Ross, Jan. 2, 2012