BUILDING OWNER AND/OR ELEVATOR INSTALLER MAY BE LIABLE FOR FATAL ACCIDENT MANHATTAN, NEW YORK (July 24, 2016) 

A 43-year-old employee at a Washington Heights variety store has died in a tragic freight elevator accident near 552 W. 182nd Street, according to the New York Post. Authorities have been able to identify the man that was killed in the accident as Jose Fernandez. Fernandez also by the nicknames “Morenito” and “Flaco.” The employee was loading boxes onto a lift at  La Reguera Dominican when it suddenly pulled the man upward and pinned him to the ceiling. Emergency medical workers tried to save him, but he was later pronounced dead. There was an outpouring of grief at the business as people remembered Jose Fernandez. He was remembered as an extremely good person who had been working at La Reguera Dominican after he emigrated from the Dominican Republic. People who worked at shops around the store described him as very hard working and energetic and were deeply saddened that he died. This tragic accident is the second time that a person was killed or injured in a freight elevator accident in the last year. One other person was crushed to death and another worker lost an arm in a freak accident. The building was fined $1,200 in December of 2015 according to records that are available online. A building owner next door said that the elevator was installed about 1 year ago after an auto repair shop was turned into a discount store. A department investigation revealed that the elevator was built illegally to to accommodate a new storage space on the second floor.  Building department investigators are still trying to determine what caused the lift to malfunction as Jose Fernandez was loading merchandise. It remains unclear if there was even supposed to be an elevator at that address.