Elevator that killed student overloaded
POSTED: 8:44 a.m. EDT, October 24, 2006
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A dormitory elevator that pinned and killed an Ohio State University freshman was overloaded, said authorities who have not
determined whether the extra weight caused a malfunction.
Twenty-four people had crowded into an elevator on which Andrew Polakowski, 18, of Erie, Pennsylvania, was killed Friday night, a fire official said
Monday.
The 2,500-pound weight capacity of the elevator was exceeded by as much as 1,100 pounds, said Doug Smith, a battalion chief for the Columbus Division
of Fire.
Polakowski, a pre-business major, was the last person in a group of students to enter the elevator on the dormitory's third floor when it unexpectedly
began to descend with the doors open, campus police said. (Watch student describe how dormmate was trapped -- 1:19)
Polakowski tried to get back onto the third floor as someone shouted that the elevator was falling, said Rick Amweg, assistant chief of campus police.
The elevator didn't stop its descent until it wedged Polakowski against the floor of the third-floor lobby, Amweg said.
Polakowski died immediately, Smith said. After firefighters determined they couldn't save him, they helped the others inside the elevator climb down a
ladder to the second floor.
Polakowski, who had chest and abdominal injuries, died of mechanical asphyxia, Franklin County Coroner Bradley Lewis said.
The Department of Commerce released documents showing that the elevator where the accident happened had passed every safety test conducted by Otis
Elevator Co. going back to 2003, including the most recent one, conducted July 24.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.moron - 10-24-2006 at 03:08 PM
Freshman year is to weed out those people who dont belong. Seems to be what happened here.BKT - 10-25-2006 at 01:33 PM
Ya whatever. Like no one on here has ever done something stupid where they should have or could have been killed.
MM.XHonusWagnerX - 10-25-2006 at 01:35 PM
Natural Selection... weeding out the stupid.morgan - 10-25-2006 at 10:53 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by XHonusWagnerX
Natural Selection... weeding out the stupid.
