Questions Follow Fatal Elevator Accident

The city is investigating the death of a 30-year-old man who was crushed by an elevator in Kips Bay apartment building last Thursday morning.

Samuel Waisbren had attempted to follow another resident out of the elevator of the 23-story Manhattan Promenade when the car began to fall toward the basement, trapping and killing Waisbren, according to the New York Fire Department.

At 8:27 a.m., police received a 911 call requesting an elevator rescue at 344 Third Ave. near East 26th St. When officers arrived, they found an unconscious and unresponsive Waisbren at the building’s elevator. EMS pronounced him dead at the scene.

There were five other passengers in the elevator at the time of the incident.

In a video captured by surveillance cameras, the elevators open and a man wearing a backpack exits the elevator. As Waisbren moves to exit, the lift drops suddenly and Waisbren puts out his arm to stop the elevator doors from closing, but it continues to drop and Waisbren is caught. He attempts to escape, but it brought down by the lift and crushed between the shaft wall and elevator. The witnesses in the lobby turn away from the elevator covering their faces in horror.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the apartment building had recently been fined nearly $1,300 after inspectors found that a safety feature on one of the building’s two elevators was not functioning correctly. The city approved of the feature’s repair on May 31 and its operation was restored. However, it was not the same elevator that was involved during Thursday’s incident.

The Department of Buildings is conducting an ongoing investigation of the incident.

“DOB is investigating this incident aggressively and will take all appropriate enforcement actions,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement. “Elevators are the safest form of travel in New York, due to the city’s stringent inspection and safety requirements. We’re determined to find out what went wrong at this building and seek ways to prevent incidents like this in the future.”

Waisbren was a Wisconsin native and worked for the tech company CB Insights.