NYC Elevator Accident Leaves One Dead

A woman was crushed to death Wednesday after getting pinned between floors in an office elevator in New York City.

According to CBS News, the freak accident occurred around 10am in a 26-story office tower near Grand Central Terminal that has been the longtime home of advertising agency Y&R, formerly known as Young & Rubicam.

The victim, identified as 41-year-old Y&R executive Suzanne Hart, had stepped halfway into the elevator when it started to ascend to the second floor with the doors still open.

She was reportedly then pinned between floors and was crushed when the elevator took off before she was fully able to enter the car, local authorities said in a statement.

“She was stepping in and the elevator shot up,” a law enforcement official told the NY Times.

The official added that two additional people who were on the elevator were taken to a local hospital to be evaluated for psychological trauma but weren’t physically harmed during the accident.

“I don’t think any physical injuries,” he said. “It is just what they saw, traumas.”

According to her LinkedIn profile, Suzanne Hart was the Director of New Business, Content and Experience at Y&R, where she had worked since 2007. She was a 1988 graduate of Palos Verdes High School in Calif. and she earned a BA in Fine Art and International Relations from Knox College.

Following the tragedy, Y&R chief executive Peter Stringham said the company is “deeply, deeply saddened to confirm that one of our employees has died” and called the elevator accident “a great emotional shock” in a statement put out Wednesday afternoon.

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