New York, NY –
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer says the city Housing Authority could have prevented the death of a 5-year old boy last August, if only it had installed a device that prevents elevator doors from opening between floors.
STRINGER: This is a $400 part that would have prevented that young boy Jacob Neuman from falling out of the elevator before help arrived. I do not understand for the life of me why this door restrictor is not on every single elevator.
REPORTER: In a report obtained by the New York Times, inspectors for the city's Buildings Department suggest faulty maintenance led to the elevator's malfunction and the child's fall down the shaft in a public housing development in Williamsburg.
The Brooklyn district attorney is investigating. And the Housing Authority has declined comment.
Jenna Flanagan has been an Associate Producer and contributing reporter for WNYC's All Things Considered, local news since 2006. Prior to that, she worked for 3 years as a general assignment reporter for the WBGO news department and won a Garden State Association of Black Journalists award.
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