Elevator passenger dies, trapped between car and shaft

NEW YORK – Authorities say an elevator accident in a New York city high-rise has killed a man who was apparently pinned between the elevator car and the shaft.

It happened around 8:30 a.m. Thursday in a high-end rental building on Third Avenue in the Kips Bay neighbourhood of Manhattan.

Police and building inspectors are investigating. Police say it appears 30-year-old Samuel Charles Waisbren was trying to get out of the elevator when it continued downward and trapped him.

Waisbren died at the scene. A message has been left for the company that owns the building.

The New York Times reports the building was fined $1,300 in May after inspectors found a safety feature on one of its two elevators had been disabled or tampered with.