Our Houston elevator accident attorneys have read of a recent spate of horrifying and deadly incidents in New York City elevators. These gruesome tales come at a time when many Texans traditionally head up to New York City to take in the holiday festivities, shopping, and decoration for which the city is noted.
1. You might have read of Suzanne Hart, the Y&R advertising executive whose leg became trapped by a fast moving elevator at her office building on Madison Avenue on Wednesday. The elevator began moving with its doors still open. It jerked Ms. Hart upward by her trapped leg. She died crushed between floors after the elevator began moving at a high rate of speed. The elevator became stuck between floors, and horrified elevator occupants had to be rescued.
Occupants of the elevator have been evaluated for psychological trauma since witnessing the terrible and gruesome accident occur right before their eyes. Records show that the elevator that killed Ms. Hart was serviced only hours before her death. Our Houston elevator accident attorneys notice that some reports are blaming the elevator malfunction on recent electrical rewiring and a power surge.
2. Transel Elevator, the company that serviced the elevator that killed Ms. Hart, is also being called to account for a 2009 elevator accident that left 92-year-old Anne Landle with head injuries. She is also unable to walk unaided since the accident. Elevator doors slammed shut on Ms. Landle as she was stepping into an elevator at a Park Avenue office building. The force of the doors slamming together against her threw Ms. Landle forward onto the marble floor of the elevator. She hit the hard floor headfirst and lay in a gathering pool of her own blood until help arrived.
3. This past Saturday, news reports detailed a calculated and horrifying murder in a Brooklyn, NY elevator. Jerome Isaac, dressed as an exterminator, doused Deloris Gillespie, a former employer, with highly combustible liquid as she began to step out of an elevator in her apartment building. Then he tossed a Molotov cocktail inside the elevator and left her to burn to death as he took the stairs out of the building. Police say he turned himself in on Sunday after setting his own apartment alight. Isaac faces murder and arson charges.
4. On Christmas Day of last year, Deborah Jordan got caught in a faulty elevator that dragged her up 8 floors, crushing her arm and leg against the wall of the elevator shaft in the process. A repairman had mistakenly disabled a safety switch that would have prevented the elevator from moving while its doors were still open. He had called up the elevator without making necessary safety checks to see if it was in use. The repairman has been charged with assault and reckless endangerment. Mr. Jordan now faces a life of pain and disability because of the repairman’s error.
New York City is a vertical city. It depends upon elevators for its daily activities. Workers, visitors, and residents would find it almost impossible to avoid using elevators on a frequent basis. Each year, dozens of elevator accidents occur, some causing horrific and lifelong debilitating injuries. Relatively few deaths occur from New York City elevator accidents, but when they do, they tend to make the news because of their spectacular and gruesome nature.
But New York City isn’t the only place they relies on elevators. Modern cities all over the nation and all over the world increasingly feature high-rise hotels, luxury residential towers, and office buildings. Our Houston elevator accident attorneys face the prospect of taking elevators on an almost daily basis. Poor elevator maintenance, faulty wiring, damaged cables, less than thorough inspections, and repairmen’s errors are only some of the possible causes of the occasional elevator accident.
If you have the misfortune to suffer one of the relatively rare elevator accidents in our Houston area, you might face long-term medical care needs, permanent disabilities, and enormous expenses from the accident. But proving fault in an elevator accident requires a careful investigation and a highly technical presentation of evidence.
You’ll need the help of a Houston elevator accident attorney to obtain the full financial compensation you need and deserve from your accident. Contact us today for a free legal consultation and let us explain how we could help you win your claim. We could walk you through your various legal options based upon the specific facts and circumstances of your accident. Let us help you recover; call today.