ATLANTA — A high school football player was killed Wednesday when he got trapped by an elevator in an Atlanta high-rise apartment building.
Jaumarcus McFarland,19, lived at the building with other football players from Champion Prep Academy, a school that prepares students academically and athletically for college, WSBTV reported.
McFarland was pinned by the elevator between the second and third floors, and it took an hour for first responders to get him out.
He died at the Atlanta Medical Center.
Bryson Grove, who also lived at the apartment building, said he and other teammates complained about the elevators.
“We knew something like this was going to happen one day. We didn’t know it was going to take one of our teammate’s lives,” Grove told WSB.
Grove also said there are other issues at the building including problems with air conditioning, lights not working and bugs, WSB reported.
Lexus Law was in the building when the accident happened. She said she had alerted the city about the malfunctioning elevator.
“It’s a serious matter that’s taken for granted and it could have been avoided,” Law told WSB.
The state said the elevator was a year overdue for inspection.
The Georgia Office of Insurance and Safety Fire, the department that oversees elevators in the state, said the building’s owner is responsible for requesting inspections. There were no recent requests on record.
An elevator consultant told WSB that elevators can develop problems if they are not inspected regularly.
“Very quickly. They’re all mechanical parts,” Andy Kohl told WSB. “A lot of people don’t do the proper work to make it safe until a major accident occurs.”
Nathan Philips, the building’s property manager, released a statement to WSB that said that the elevator had a capacity of 3,000 pounds, but 16 athletes in the car weighed more than the limit.
“First, we want to offer our sincere condolences to the family of this young man, his teammates, and his friends. The state inspectors will release their findings in due course, so it would be inappropriate for us to discuss full details until that report is complete.
“What we can say is the weight capacity of the elevator was 3000 lbs. — but the 16 young athletes who were inside the elevator when this occurred pushed that limit to nearly 4000 lbs. Unfortunately, this appears to be what started the domino effect of events leading to the unfortunate death of this young man. This is a horrible tragedy, and it deeply saddens us all that this has happened.”
Philips also said that the next inspection wasn’t due until 2024 and that it passed its 2019 check.
Normally, inspections are done at five-year intervals; but between these major checks, smaller ones are done. The previous one was done before the building changed ownership in 2020, WSB reported.
The elevator has been covered by a constant maintenance program with a licensed elevator company, and both elevators in the building were serviced last week.
Philips said despite allegations by residents that there were issues, there was no history of previous incidents.
The fire department said it is out of service until an investigation can be done to see what failed.
Champion Prep Academy has postponed this week’s game because of McFarland’s death.
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