Drunk man stuck in elevator detained for risking passengers' lives
The incident takes place in a residential complex in Jing'an District.
A man has been detained after being saved from an elevator for putting fellow passengers' lives at stake, Shanghai police said on Monday.
The incident took place in a residential complex on Yongxing Road on the evening of August 24.
Police from Zhijiang Road W. Police Station in Jing'an District received a report that evening that four people were stuck in an elevator in one of the buildings in the residential complex.
Together with firefighters and elevator maintenance workers, police got the four out safe, but just as they were about to leave, a property management worker reported to them that one of the four people who had been trapped inside had damaged the elevator and caused the malfunction.
Footage from the elevator's surveillance camera showed that the elevator stopped running after the man fiercely punched the elevator's button panel. He then kicked the elevator doors and opened them forcefully. When he found that the elevator was positioned between two floors, he called the police.
A man kicks an elevator's doors after it comes to a stop.
The other three passengers in the elevator are friends of the man, surnamed Fu. They tried to stop Fu from damaging the elevator but failed, police said.
For over an hour, the four were stuck inside the elevator, which was in danger of free-falling any time, according to police.
Fu claimed that he was drunk and angry at that time and didn't realize that what he did might risk the lives of himself and his friends.
He could face the criminal charge of "endangering public safety with dangerous means."
If convicted, he could be sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.
