Grandmother falls down elevator shaft in Jersey City apartment building
A New Jersey grandmother was injured after falling down an elevator shaft in her apartment building earlier this week, a video shot by a neighbor shows.
The victim, described to be in her 70s, had just picked up her young granddaughter from school when she opened the door to the elevator in her Jersey City building. Without realizing the elevator wasn’t there, she stepped inside and fell from the first floor.
Her granddaughter was left on the landing, while neighbors could hear the woman screaming in panic as she was trapped at the bottom of the shaft,
The victim’s daughter, who also lives in the building, was “frantic [and] crying” as people rushed to secure the girl and tried to rescue the grandmother.
“They were actually able to save the little girl from falling [into the elevator shaft],” Edwin Perdomo, who lives next door to the victim’s daughter, told NBC New York.
The woman was eventually brought back to safety by Jersey City fire rescue officials.
She’s said to be hospitalized with serious injuries.
“She has a broken elbow, a tear in her stomach that they might have to operate on as well, and her hips are a little messed up,’ Perdomo told the outlet Tuesday evening.
It’s unclear what caused the malfunction, but neighbors say complaints about the building’s many issues are often ignored by the property managers.
“People complain about issues from the days they moved in and nothing ever gets done,” Perdomo said. “I’ve counted people with stories about this elevator, getting stuck.”
