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“The Widowmaker”(CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM) Use requires hyperlink
This week, the freeholder board awarded a contract of up to $15,000 to CB&A for work on two of the Justice Complex’s nine elevators.
The incident prompting the suit stemmed from one of five separate elevator malfunctions at the complex — not three, as reported elsewhere — all involving Elevator #7, a/k/a “The Widowmaker.”
B&G Elevator Maintenance Co., which originally was responsible for elevator maintenance and repairs, was sued by officers George Adamopoulos and Dennis Milnes last year after the elevator fell with them inside. Both men got in on the 4th floor. The elevator shook, fell two floors and jerked to a stop. It took 15 minutes to get them out.
Adamopoulos, 43, ended up requiring spinal surgery and eventually retired. Milnes, 48, who suffered lower neck and back injuries, recently returned to work after a nearly a year.
Two other incidents involving the same elevator were publicly reported: One involved Superior Court Judges Estela DeLa Cruz and Anthony Scioto (retired), who boarded on the 4th floor and somehow escaped serious injury when the elevator suddenly dropped to the 1st on June 11, 2008. They were trapped inside for 20 minutes, records obtained by CLIFFVIEW PILOT show.
The other disclosed incident involved Sheriff’s Officer Jay O’Connell, who suffered a back injury and retired after “The Widowmaker” dropped at least one floor with him inside on March 7, 2008.
However, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned of at least two other incidents on No. 7, both of which occurred the same day: September 1, 2010:
Records obtained by CLIFFVIEW PILOT show that Court Clerk Elisa Amari boarded the troublesome elevator on the 1st floor that morning and was taken for an unplanned ride to the 3rd floor, before it came back down to the 1st and then suddenly shot up to the 4th.
Around 1:30 that afternoon, state information tech John Newchurch was taken on a similar ride on “The Widowmaker.” Reports don’t indicate the nature or severity of injuries he said he sustained.
Also unreported to this point was a March 11, 2010 directive that Bergen County Sheriff’s officers use the stairs instead of the elevators. No official memos were posted, but officers privately have confirmed that the verbal order cited “enhancing security in the stairwells” as the reason.
The settlement scuttles a potential inspection by James Fillipone a renowned expert in elevator accident reconstruction who was consulted by the officers’ attorneys. Fillipone, who handles maintenance of Port Authority of NY/NJ elevators and escalators, may still play a role: O’Connell still has a suit pending.
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