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By Tom Collins
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 18, 1996
People take elevators because it's faster than taking the stairs. Not so for Andy Schreiner.Schreiner, a civil engineering freshman, spent an hour in a Coronado Residence Hall elevator yesterday because an elevator repair company was not able to immediately respond.
Schreiner said he got in the elevator on the seventh floor. He said the elevator stopped on the fourth floor about 2:30 p.m.
"It just kind of jerked to a stop," Schreiner said.
Schreiner said he spoke to authorities on the elevator's emergency phone and was told he would be out in 15 minutes. He said University of Arizona police and a UA maintenance employee arrived at the hall, 822 E. Fifth St., five to 10 minutes later, but were unable to free him.
At 3:30 p.m., Jerry Kitchens, vice president of Hotchkiss Elevator Co. arrived, and Schreiner was released and welcomed by a crowd of 13 students that had formed outside the elevator's doors.
One of those students, psychology freshman and Coronado resident Danielle Nagel said that problems with the elevators were not new. She said elevators shake as they travel and occasionally miss floors.
"Sometimes it opens between floors," Nagel said.
Kitchens said the company likes to get to a scene within 30 minutes, though occasionally it takes longer. He said he did not know when the company was initially notified.
Kitchens said he did not know what had caused the elevator to stop. He said it was probably a malfunctioning safety mechanism that shut the elevator down.
Each elevator has a lock on it that allows the door to be opened in the event of a stoppage, Kitchens said. He said fire and police authorities are not authorized or trained to open the elevators.
Asked if the time in the elevator was a learning experience, Schreiner, a civil engineering freshman, said, "Yeah, I guess so."
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