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CHA Sued After Man Falls Down Elevator Shaft

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Jul 30, 2009 8:16 pm US/Central

CHA Sued After Man Falls Down Elevator Shaft

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: A body was found at the bottom of an elevator shaft at 365 W. Oak Street July 27, 2009.
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The family of a man killed after falling through an elevator shaft Monday night at a Cabrini-Green building has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming negligence against the Chicago Housing Authority.

Celeste Walker, on behalf of Clarence Allan Walker, filed the suit Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court against the Chicago Housing Authority for the July 27 incident that claimed Clarence's life.

Clarence Walker was near the elevator shaft inside a building at 365 W. Oak St. about 9:30 p.m. Monday when, for an unknown reason, he fell right through and died, police News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office said Walker, 61, of the Oak Street address, fell down an elevator shaft and was pronounced dead on the scene at 12:03 a.m. Walker died from multiple injuries sustained in a fall from a height, an autopsy revealed. His death was ruled an accident, the medical examiner's office said.

The suit claims the CHA failed to properly operate the elevator and kept the elevator in a "defective and unsafe condition."

The CHA also failed to maintain the elevator to prevent hazard for an unreasonable length of time and failed to test and inspect the elevator in accordance with the American National Elevator Safety Codes, the suit said.

Clarence Walker was also not warned of the elevator's "hazardous condition" at the time of the incident, the suit alleges.

The two-count suit seeks more than $50,000 on each count, plus the costs of the suit.

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