Family says grandmother fell 16 feet down elevator shaft in Jersey City
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- It was a terrifying scene in Jersey City earlier this week when a woman fell down an elevator shaft in her apartment building.
On Wednesday, CBS New York went to find out what happened.
Screaming for help and in agonizing pain, cellphone video shows the frantic moments after the 53-year-old grandmother fell down the elevator shaft.
"I heard someone screaming very loud, you know, 'Help me! Help me! Somebody help me!''" one man said.
That man, who didn't want to be identified, said he was visiting friends at an apartment building on Gifford Avenue on Monday afternoon, when he heard those screams for help.
"My cousin discovers, you know, the granddaughter that was just standing there. And as we opened the elevator door, we see the grandmother at the bottom, you know, screaming for help," the man said.
The elevator door was locked and covered with caution tape on Wednesday.
Relatives said the woman had just picked her granddaughter up from the bus stop on Monday. She opened the elevator door on the first floor and walked in, not knowing the elevator wasn't there and falling about 16 feet.
Luckily, the little girl was not hurt.
"I tried to investigate to see if there was anything I could personally do to try to help her, but that's too deep of a fall for somebody like me," one person said.
Firefighters arrived quickly and made the rescue. Relatives of the victim said she had a broken arm and a torn intestine from the fall. They said she underwent surgery on Tuesday.
Residents said management doesn't do enough to properly maintain the property.
"You could tell, like, this is an old elevator. you know? You would think that these people would, you know, do their job and make sure everything is up to date and livable," one tenant said.
The building is run by Cross Country Management, based in Lakewood. Someone there sent CBS New York a statement that said, "Tenant safety and security are our top priority. We are actively investigating the incident, along with our elevator company."
The daughter of the woman who fell down that elevator shaft told CBS New York no one from the apartment management company has reached out to her or her mother.
She said the family plans to file a lawsuit.