A New York City Target store security guard is listed in critical condition after falling down four floors of elevator shaft, along with the thief he was grappling with. The shoplifter is just fine.
Target guard seriously injured
A security employee of the Target store in Bronx, New York, is fighting for his life, after a four story fall on Thursday, December 8. The 29-year-old employee was attempting to escort a suspected thief from the premises when the 16-year-old started a scuffle.
During the struggle, the two men crashed into the closed elevator doors. This particular location of the chain happens to be on the fourth floor of a mall.
The incident happened at around 11:15 a.m. As they both plummeted down the shaft, the thief landed on top of the elevator car. Unfortunately, the Target employee fell past the car and became trapped below the box.
Bronx *All Hands/Confined Space* Box 2243. 700 Exterior Street. 2 males down in an elevator shaft at Bronx Terminal Market 5 stories 300×350
— NYCFireWire (@NYCFireWire) December 8, 2022
His location in the pit below the elevator car seriously complicated his rescue. Officials relate that “he remained trapped there and was hoisted from the elevator pit around an hour later.” That’s when they announced he was in “critical condition.”
According to an FDNY spokesperson, their preliminary investigation shows “The male employee was taking the 16-year-old boy out from the store when a fight broke out.”
They arrived at the Target “three minutes after receiving a 911 call.” First responders “found the boy on top of the elevator, which was below the open doors.”
A complicated rescue
To free the trapped Target worker, “FDNY staff were required to cut the power to the elevator before fire fighters were able to descend the shaft and hoist the man out using a pulley.”
After their rapid arrival, they instantly spotted the younger victim “in the elevator shaft, one on top of the elevator.” Because they didn’t see the other victim, they knew he was “past the elevator, in the elevator pit.”
While the “first victim was moved immediately,” they weren’t even sure on status of the Target guard. With the second victim “it was a more difficult operation. He was underneath the elevator. We had to secure the elevator and set the brake.”
Once they had room to work, “firefighters had to lift up the man to get him out of the elevator pit, which was roughly 15 feet below.”
EMS personnel were scurrying around the scene furiously as they worked to extract the Target employee and get both victims rushed to the hospital. It took over an hour to get the security professional out.
The teenager was “taken to Harlem hospital for treatment of serious but non-life threatening injuries.” Good news is that the “worker appeared conscious as he lay on a spine board and received medical attention.“
