VANCOUVER -- Metro Vancouver Transit Police say it’s amazing a man on a mobility scooter who fell 10 metres down a Canada Line elevator shaft Monday night had only minor injuries.
"This could have been a very different story. Anybody that falls from a height like that could have been seriously injured and even killed," said Sgt. Clint Hampton.
Emergency crews got the call at 7:15 p.m. Monday about a man on a scooter who was trapped in the elevator shaft.
"He had hit the elevator doors at Yaletown Roundhouse Canada Line station, in some way this caused the doors to open and he fell down the elevator shaft," said Hampton.
After falling 10 meters, the middle aged man landed on top of the elevator in the station below and was rescued by firefighters. He had only a few bumps and bruises.
"It’s amazing actually," said Hampton. "This is definitely one of the more bizarre stories."
After speaking to witnesses and viewing surveillance video, Transit Police don’t believe the man on the scooter mistakenly struck the glass elevator door. It appeared he drove straight into it.
"As in it wasn't just a mere accident or brushing up against the door or something of that nature," said Hampton. "That being said, I don’t know that he intended to hit the door at the speed that he did, or that he intended for the door to open the way that it did, without having an elevator there and instead an open shaft."
The elevator is out of a service indefinitely. It will remain blocked off until crews can repair a large crack in the glass, and determine why the door opened when the man on the scooter drove into it.
"It was an extremely crazy call, and there's still a lot of questions to be answered," said Hampton.
