A Brooklyn building assistant superintendent was killed by a moving elevator on Friday afternoon after going into the building's basement to retrieve a dropped cell phone, city officials said.
The 64-year-old man, a well-liked maintenance figure in the building for years, was fatally injured when the building's elevator was called by someone in the building to a different floor.
Emergency crews responded to the building in Prospect Lefferts Gardens around 1:15 p.m. and extracted him from the basement. He was pronounced dead a short time later.
The FDNY initially reported that the assistant superintendent was "trapped underneath the elevator." He had gone down into the basement with a tenant of the building, who was injured as well. The extent of the tenant's injuries was not immediately known.
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Department of Buildings officials said the man was caught up in the "moving hoist ropes and elevator sheave." Their investigation of the incident is ongoing.
"Everyone in this building knows him, he's been here for years," tenant Salena Smith said. "Really friendly guy, would never let you go by without saying good morning or good night."
