Home > Accident > Homeless Man Crushed To Death By Montgomery Station Elevator

Homeless Man Crushed To Death By Montgomery Station Elevator

March 12, 2013 at 12:58 pm by Morbid

San Francisco, CA - An unidentified homeless man was crushed to death after he decided to take residence on top of a San Francisco subway elevator.

The man was found Sunday morning after someone taking the elevator up to the top level of the Montgomery Station called to say the elevator had stalled after he heard a crunching noise followed by a scream.

Rescuers would find the body of a man wedged between the elevator and the wall of the shaft. Personal belongings and bedding were also found on top of the car, according to transit spokeswoman Luna Salaver. The man was not carrying any identification.

Salaver added that there are only two ways for someone to get on top of the elevator; ventilation shafts or the hatch door in the roof of the elevator. The ventilation shafts were found to be secure, but to get through the hatch, someone would have had to help the man.

“We don’t understand why anyone would seek refuge in an elevator shaft. It is disturbing, upsetting and highly unusual,” Salaver said. “This has never happened before in our 40 years of service.”

BART crews already perform nightly sweeps at closing time, but are now checking all elevator shafts in downtown San Francisco stations to ensure there are no other people deciding to sleep on top of a working elevator. The Montgomery station elevator in this incident will not be operational until later this month.

If I were the man who got stuck in the elevator, I wouldn’t feel guilty after accidentally killing someone, but I bet that crunching sound would stick with me for a bit.

Tags: Accident, California, Crime, Elevator, homeless, Montgomery Station

40 Comments

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Jubilex

I can’t get Jay Leno out of my head now…. ‘crunch all you want… we’ll make more’
kimbev69

ouch
Evan Oswald

sad, but, it’d be nice if we could end Jerome Isaac, Richard Hooten or Steven Deuman like this….
Buffettgirl

“the elevator had stalled after he heard a crunching noise followed by a scream.” I wasn’t even there and I’ll never get that sound out of my head…
cedric

“We don’t understand why anyone would seek refuge in an elevator shaft. It is disturbing, upsetting and highly unusual,” Salaver said; most likely (In my opinion) adding silently to himself – Stupidest thing that I have ever seen. “This has never happened before in our 40 years of service.” ( I wonder why that is ?)

The elevator didn’t kill this poor,homeless guy this was pure and simply evolution at work.In cases like this the burning question with me is always – How did the guy make it to be the age he was when he killed himself ? Essentially that’s what he did – he commented a form of suicide;I usually call this type incident suicide by stupidity.

Disclaimer :
The fact that I am sorry for this guy and any family,or friends that he may have had – and will now pause to say a short prayer for him – does not remove any of the sheer stupidity from his final actions.
http://www.facebook.com/tiffani.kase.7 Tiffani Kase

I wonder if he chose that spot thinking that it would be warmer and also safer from others who might want to harm him or take advantage of him. Sad.
OutOfBubbleGum

Technically, is this considered a mobile home? And, is his street address, Montgomery Station Floor(s) 1,2,3,4,5,6, ….?
Heather_Habilatory

AAAAAHHHHHHHH! THE ELEVATORS ARE ATTACKING AGAIN!!! SET THE TERROR ALERT TO FUCHSIA!
Heather_Habilatory

God, I love you.
Heather_Habilatory

Stuff of nightmares, for sure.
Heather_Habilatory

That’s a good thought. Stray cats (like my adopted cat) like to hide in car engines because it’s warm.
OutOfBubbleGum

Priceless!!
Wolf_of_Mars

Damned assault elevators…
Andyman

My dad has told me a story where his poker buddies were leaving for the night ~ 2-3 AM and after turning the ignition, a cat looking for warmth was chewed up in his friend’s truck fan blade. You’ll have to come up with your own audio for that one but the one in my mind isn’t anymore favorable than this guy who went crunch.
Evan Oswald

why an elevator? he must love the smell of piss http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/elevator-woodside-queens-lirr-contstantly-breaking-account-urine-article-1.1286208
come_and_see

I can barely sleep in my bed.

How the hell can you sleep on top of an elevator?
Heather_Habilatory

We all know what a cat dying by being mutilated by a car engine sounds like.

http://youtu.be/0U2JEYLvLoU
Sam

I can understand why a homeless guy would take up residence on top of an elevator. At least half of the time he’d be going up in the world.
http://www.facebook.com/ntrygg1 Nick Trygg

This is crazy. I just moved up to Oregon after living in SF for the past three years. God damn i love that fuckin city!
LeaveMeBe

Thanks to stories like these, I’m more afraid I’m going to die in an elevator accident than I am of being killed by a crazy criminal person.
JohnQknowitall

Grass, gas or ass… I guess crushed to death at the top of an elevator shaft is the fourth and unspoken alternative.
JGo555

Bad idea Tuesdays I guess.
http://www.facebook.com/tiffani.kase.7 Tiffani Kase

Although clearly, that’s not always a good thing!
CaliforniaDreamin

This is not as risky as it would seem; most of the time those BART elevators are “out of service.” The odds of finding a working elevator at your station are very low.
pinkparamedic

I was so hoping that it was scream *then* crunch, and that he died instantly on impact, but I guess not. Poor hobo. I hope every effort is made to identify him, and that his family (if he has one) can get some closure.
restlessvagabond

I live in San Fran and walked by the ground level exit of that elevator. That particular elevator had been out of service for so long the guy probably thought it was still broken.
Chinchillazilla

Here I thought it would be Bieber. Well played.
http://twitter.com/Kevin_byDesign Kevin byDesign

This breaks my heart; I was a homeless teenager.Finding a safe, warm place to rest is very difficult. The idea if you’re homeless you are lazy or crazy is false. Many people are one illness, or one paycheck away from being homeless.