Advertising Executive Killed in Elevator Accident

A freak accident at a Madison Avenue office building took the life of an advertising executive on Wednesday. The woman stepped onto the elevator, was caught in the elevator’s doors as they were closing, and then was dragged as the elevator moved upward. She was crushed to death between floors, according to the Associated Press.

As Suzanne Hart, the advertising executive, was killed, two others looked on in shock. The two others on the elevator were rescued by emergency personnel after it became jammed between the first and second floors. Those two victims were taken to a local hospital in order to be evaluated for psychological trauma. According to police and fire officials, neither of the two victims who were trapped appeared to be injured physically.

Hart was stepping onto the elevator when her foot was caught in the gap that separates the elevator car and the lobby floor, according to public safety and law enforcement personnel. Officials then went on to say that the car rushed upwards with its doors still open, pulling Hart with it.

The tragic accident occurred on Wednesday morning in the 26-story midtown Manhattan office tower that is located near Grand Central Terminal. Hart’s company, the advertising agency of Y&R, which used to be known as Young & Republican, has been located in that building for quite some time now. The city buildings department sent investigators to the scene to try and figure out what went wrong with the elevator. There are safety mechanisms on elevators that are supposed to prevent the elevator from operating while the doors are still in the open position.

Tony Sclafani, a spokesman for the buildings department, claims that the elevator was inspected back in June and that there were zero safety issues found when the inspection took place. The elevator previously received a violation for a safety hazard back in 2003, the problem was fixed, and there have been no problems since then according to Sclafani.

There are 13 elevators in the office tower and it has been removed from use pending the result of the investigation from the buildings department. Hart was 41 years old and was the director of business development at Y&R. She lived in Brooklyn. Hart’s father told the New York Times during a phone interview that his daughter was “the most marvelous daughter imaginable. No father could have ever been more proud of her,” he said.

Y&R, which had announced a couple of days ago that it was leaving the building for a new headquarters, confirmed to media outlets that there had been a fatality but could offer no further information at the time. Y&R is one of a number of tenants in the building. The initial reports from officials was that the elevator had plunged two floors.