Two construction workers were rushed to the hospital after a bizarre elevator accident in New York City. The accident occurred in West Village on August 6th. The men were travelling in an elevator at an apartment complex located at 56 West 11th Street in Greenwich Village when the elevator cables suddenly snapped. The car briefly plummeted before becoming jammed in the shaft between the eighth and ninth floors.
The men were part of a crew working on a 12-apartment renovation inside the building. It’s unclear exactly what caused the accident but an investigation after the fact revealed that the elevator’s counterweight had come unattached. It appears that pipes had somehow become entangled in the cables causing them to flex and their connections to break.
The FDNY responded and secured the elevator with rope before extracting the two men. The construction workers were taken to Bellevue Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
When reporters spoke to tenants in the building, they discovered that the same elevator has a history of malfunctions. Indeed, one resident said that it breaks down often, trapping residents in the car. DOB records show that the building has ten open elevator violations dating back to 2006.
A full Department of Buildings investigation of this most recent elevator accident in New York is underway.
While elevator accidents in New York City are rare, they are extremely dangerous. Several individuals have been killed in recent years after becoming trapped between elevator cars and shaft walls. But even minor elevator accidents such as this most recent event in Greenwich Village pose the potential for life-altering injuries such as neck and spinal injuries which could lead to limited use and range of motion of the arms and/or legs.
If you or a loved one has been injured in an elevator malfunction, whether while on the job or in an apartment or office building , contact a New York City elevator accident attorney immediately. You could be eligible to collect monetary compensation for pain and suffering, unpaid medical expenses and lost wages. Call the Law Offices of Nussin S. Fogel for a free consultation at or 212-385-1122 to learn your rights.