A Manhattan fitness trainer has filed suit against an elevator inspection company after suffering an elevator accident and losing his ability to walk.
Corey Hill is a core fitness trainer at Equinox, David Barton Gym and Chelsea Piers. On November 11, 2011, he stepped into the elevator on the 26th floor of his Midtown West building. When he pressed the button for the lobby, the elevator went hurtling into a freefall. After just a few floors, it came to an abrupt halt, jerked a little, and shot back up.
Hill injured his back and neck in the process. He thought he was just shaken up at first but woke up the next day and experienced trouble moving his legs. He visited the doctor, went to Beth Israel Hospital, and stayed there for two and a half weeks without the ability to feel or move his legs. He then spent a week in rehab and returned home in December, aided with a wheelchair.
He was immediately afraid of using the elevator, and therefore had to be carried up and down the 26 flights of stairs by his friends. He has since gained the hang of crutches.
The elevator inspection company, Transel Elevator, was also responsible for the elevator that killed Suzanne Hart in a well-publicized incident last December. The company is now in the hot seat of, among other investigations, Hill's lawsuit, which he filed in a Manhattan Supreme Court.
