Thousands of times a day, without a thought, people around the world do it: we call an elevator to our floor, step aboard and go on our way.
But on Thursday morning, this most mundane of rituals went horribly awry, as a 6-week-old girl plunged eight stories to her death in an elevator shaft of a Brooklyn high-rise with a history of elevator problems.
According to the police, Haifa Ali, 21, left her apartment at the Bay Park II housing complex at about 10.30am with her infant girl, Areej, in a stroller. Ali pushed the button for the elevator, calling it to the 23rd floor. When the door opened, Ali pushed the stroller into what she thought would be a waiting car - but it was not there. The police said Areej fell eight stories, landing on top of the elevator, which was out of operation and had stopped on the 15th floor.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found Areej unconscious in the elevator shaft. Emergency medical workers took her to Coney Island Hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival, the police said.
The building has been the subject of almost 20 complaints for out-of-service elevators since January 2015, with some as recent as last month, city records show. It also has at least 50 current building code violations, including four for its elevators, according to the records.
"This isn't a freak accident," said Mike, a tenant on the 21st floor. "These elevators always have problems. And it's been going on like this for 20 years."
It was more than 20 years ago, in fact, in 1991, Mike said, that one of his close friends, Chandler Johnson, was leaving an apartment in the same complex and fell to his death in an elevator shaft. Calling the persistently broken elevators "a big mistake," Mike added, "This wasn't supposed to happen again."
He said he had two girls and "always kept them away from the elevators."
City buildings officials said the elevator involved in the girl's death had passed a thorough five-year inspection in January and was tested again in August. During the last inspection, officials said that the elevator phone was out of service but that the car itself could remain safely in operation. The Buildings Department said it was shutting down the elevator pending a full investigation. The building's other elevator has been out of service since Wednesday.
Tenants climbing the stairs of the building Thursday said that the elevators regularly broke down and that elevator repair workers were a familiar presence. A pregnant woman huffing up to the fifth floor, her hands filled with grocery bags, said that only one elevator seemed to work at a time.
Another man, who gave his name only as Kevin, said, "We've had trouble with the elevator," but added that it was "nothing to this extent where the door opens and there's no elevator."
Some tenants described the Ali family as kind people who would gladly offer others in the building gifts of bread or rice.
"If you needed something, they'd give it to you. I'm shocked this happened," Herold Noel, 30, who lives on the same floor as the Alis, said as he made his way up the stairs, grocery bags in hand.
"What happened today has happened here before," Noel added, speaking of Johnson's death. "And they've never fixed it, and now look what's happened to a kid."
New York Times