A 38-year-old Boston University French lecturer was crushed to death in an apartment building elevator accident. Carrie O’Connor had only recently moved into the apartment she called home when she lost her life in a bizarre elevator accident when she entered the lift on the first floor of the building.
There has been some degree of confusion over how the deadly elevator accident occurred. What is known is that O’Conner entered the building carrying a box of some sort. Another resident of the apartment building helped her through the door into the lobby of the building. He was heading towards the staircase as the professor went to the elevator.
When O’Conner reached the doors to the elevator, the neighbor reminded her to fully pull the door close before pushing a floor button to activate the lift. He has since explained he was a bit concerned about the size of the box she was carting and wanted to make sure she realized the importance of ensuring that the door to the elevator fully closed. Evidently, in some situations, the possibility exists that the elevator was capable of movement even when the entry door was not fully closed or secured.
The apartment building was built in 1920. The elevator is described by residents of the building as “old fashioned.” The elevator was inspected in 2020 and evidently passed that examination. The exact age of the elevator has not been reported; it is possible that the lift dates back 100 years to the construction of the apartment building itself.
What happened after that point in time becomes murky. What is known that within a matter of moments, O’Conner somehow ended up underneath the elevator car. The elevator activated and O’Conner was crushed beneath it. An autopsy was performed and the coroner announced that O’Conner died from what medically is known as traumatic asphyxiation. In layperson’s terms, the elevator pressed O’Conner’s body to the point that she was unable to breath.
Investigation into the death of the college professor is ongoing. Preliminary information suggests that while trying to load the box into the elevator, O’Conner activated the equipment. This represents another area in which the chain of events is not yet fully clear. The elevator may have moved upward, causing O’Conner to lose her balance and fall into the gap. After that happened, the elevator somehow then moved or dropped downward, which is how the professor ended up crushed and killed (after falling into the gap).
There is no indication as to when the investigation into the death of Professor O’Conner will be completed. A number of agencies are involved in the investigatory process at this time.
Sadly, O’Conner was the second person in the United States to be crushed by an elevator within a three-week time period. A 30-year-old man named Samuel Waisbren was crushed by an elevator in an apartment building in New York City. In this case, investigators report that Waisbren was existing the elevator when the lift suddenly descended. The investigation into the precise cause of this malfunction have yet to be announced.
If you’ve been injured in an elevator accident, or if you’ve lost a loved one who has been killed as the result of some sort of malfunction of negligence associated with an elevator, The Doan Law Firm is here for you. You can reach our firm any time of the day or night by calling us at (800) 349-0000. You can call us 365 days a year, including on all major holidays. We can schedule an initial consultation and case evaluation with an elevator accident lawyer from our firm any time that is convenient for you.
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