# A lot of New Yorkers are taking the stairs today . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 15, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337 "2011-12-15T20:55:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/1 "2011-12-15T20:55:20Z")
> [@](#): > > (CBS News) NEW YORK - City buildings officials are investigating what could have caused an elevator to fail Wednesday, killing a woman as she was stepping inside, CBS News station WCBS-TV in New York reports. Officials will be focusing their attention on the mechanics of the now-boarded-up elevator inside the lobby of the Young & Rubicam building on Madison Avenue. Authorities said that at around 10 a.m. Wednesday 41-year-old Suzanne Hart was stepping inside the elevator when it suddenly shot upward, its doors still open. Buildings department sources told WCBS-TV that she fell forward and was crushed between the rising elevator and the wall above. Emergency officials removed Hart’s body at around 7 p.m., almost 10 hours after the accident. _Yikes_. This is the talk of my office today, everyone stepping gingerly in and out of the elevators, wondering how we might be Black Dahlia’d or Isadora Duncan’d. If I didn’t work on the 13th floor . . . The two people in the elevator \*with \*her had to be treated for trauma, I read . . . ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/2 "2011-12-15T21:10:25Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > . . . > The two people in the elevator \*with \*her had to be treated for trauma, I read . . . I’d be a basket case for years. I read about it with horror, **Eve**. The articles I saw were less than clear, though, about just what happened. Some suggested she got stuck in the doors, other said she got stuck in the gap between the lobby floor and the elevator floor. I’ve been leery of our elevators yesterday and today, too. I don’t think I’ll ever again casually stick my hand between the doors to keep them from closing, either. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/3 "2011-12-15T21:18:13Z")
I’m not one of those people who gets nervous about elevators failing, but I admit I found myself stepping into and out of the elevator quickly on my lunch break. It’s a crazy story, and it sounds like the elevators in this building were in terrible shape. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/4 "2011-12-15T21:31:39Z")
What a horrible thing to happen. I feel so bad for the two women that watched this happen. I would need therapy for years. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/5 "2011-12-15T21:35:21Z")
Crap, this has been one of my little phobias for years, especially in the old, poorly-maintained building I work in. I always step on and off the elevators very crisply, to leave a minimum time passing through the doorway. Of course, I always assumed the malfunctioning elevator would fall, not go up! And that my trailing foot would be cut off, and I would die from the blood loss and trauma, but live long enough to understand that I was dying from a stupid elevator. Sometimes I worry about stupid stuff. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/6 "2011-12-15T21:47:37Z")
Oh yeah, been freakin’ my out in the back of my brain… ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/7 "2011-12-15T21:48:21Z")
This story reminds me of the doctor in Houston, killed in an elevator. > **[Was a Houston Doctor Decapitated by a Malfunctioning Elevator?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/houston-elevator-death/)** > > Was a Houston doctor decapitated by a malfunctioning elevator? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/8 "2011-12-15T23:12:15Z")
I’m going to spoiler this, so if you’re squeamish you don’t have read this. Be warned, because it’s a very squicky conclusion I come to. [spoiler]After reading several articles on this, here is where I’m at: you know that teeny weeny gap between the elevator car and the exterior part of the shaft? Looks like you couldn’t even get a finger in there? Yeah? When the elevator went up a significant part of her body was _wedged into that gap_. Right, major body parts squeezed and compressed into that small a space. Like, both her legs. Or her entire torso. That’s why it took so long to remove her body - so much of it was smooshed between the elevator car and the wall of the shaft. One can only hope she died quickly. Not to mention that the other two people, trapped in the elevator for an hour, had to be there with what was no doubt incredible blood and gore.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/9 "2011-12-15T23:25:34Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I’m going to spoiler this, so if you’re squeamish you don’t have read this. Be warned, because it’s a very squicky conclusion I come to. Adding to that, I just heard on the news that the Y&R building is closed till Monday so it can be checked for structural damage, as the force of the accident \*was so strong the whole building shook. \* ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/10 "2011-12-15T23:30:04Z")
Ohhh, man. Having formerly worked in advertising (though in Chicago), I undoubtedly know a few of the folks who work at Y&R in New York. ::shudder:: ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/11 "2011-12-16T00:02:28Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > If I didn’t work on the 13th floor . . . You work on the 13th floor? I must say this reenforces this image I have of you as a Victorian lady by way of Charles Addams or Tim Burton. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/12 "2011-12-16T13:58:16Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > You work on the 13th floor? I must say this reenforces this image I have of you as a Victorian lady by way of Charles Addams or Tim Burton. And I have a terror of getting my long, veiled hat caught in the elevator doors. ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/13 "2011-12-16T14:43:42Z")
I was listening to this on NPR last night and they were investigating whether or not a maintenance worker had disabled the switch that didn’t allow the elevator to move when the doors were open. The story was also mentioning another recent elevator accident so I’m not sure it’s the same one. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/14 "2011-12-16T19:44:36Z")
:eek: I didn’t realize there was enough room to fit between the elevator car and wall. If I’m reading this right she got jerked up in there and crushed. I would have expected a bisection where the body was cut lengthwise by the impact with the steel car. Either way, it’s a horrible accident. I really hope death was basically instantaneous. > [@](#): > > Then, in an inexplicable instant, after Ms. Hart placed one foot inside, the elevator suddenly lurched up, its door still open, according to the Fire Department. It dragged her until she was pinned between the elevator and the wall, between the first and second floors, the police said. > **[Elevator Accident Kills Woman in Midtown Building (Published 2011)](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/nyregion/elevator-accident-kills-a-woman-in-a-madison-avenue-building.html)** > > The victim had one foot in the elevator car of a Madison Avenue office building when the car began to ascend. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/15 "2011-12-16T19:49:29Z")
[There’s been another one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=635046)? :eek: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/16 "2011-12-16T19:51:28Z")
**Freak Accident** - not Frak Accident ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/17 "2011-12-16T19:58:47Z")
Hmm. Machine kills human in “frak” accident. Cylon prototype? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/18 "2011-12-16T19:59:25Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > **Freak Accident** - not Frak Accident Fixed title. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/19 "2011-12-16T20:00:35Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > [There’s been another one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=635046)? :eek: > > 😉 Threads merged. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/20 "2011-12-16T20:04:11Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Crap, this has been one of my little phobias for years, especially in the old, poorly-maintained building I work in. I always step on and off the elevators very crisply, to leave a minimum time passing through the doorway. > > Of course, I always assumed the malfunctioning elevator would fall, not go up! And that my trailing foot would be cut off, and I would die from the blood loss and trauma, but live long enough to understand that I was dying from a stupid elevator. > > Sometimes I worry about stupid stuff. > Roddy You’re not the only one. It’s not really a phobia in my case, but it’s one of those sick thoughts that runs through my head occasionally as I’m stepping on an elevator. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337.md?page=2)