To the Editor:

This letter is in response to your article about the six women who were trapped in the elevator at the Senior Services Center on March 1 [“Six seniors stuck in clubhouse elevator,” The Altamont Enterprise, March 1, 2019].

As a matter of clarification, there was no visible sign as to number of people who could be in the elevator, nor any weight limit notice. How could the occupants possibly anticipate there would be a problem?

This looks like a situation where the victims are being blamed for something the building owners are responsible for: That is to have a safe elevator designed, approved, built to all applicable Department of Labor New York State laws and Americans with Disabilities Act building requirements.

Most disturbing is the fact that there was no audible alarm notifying that the car was overloaded. If the elevator were in fact overloaded, the doors should never have closed. Of course the elevator should never have moved either.

But move it did and trapped the occupants between two floors.

It was the very courteous firemen and police officers who finally forced the doors open and helped the occupants out one-by-one via a large ladder.

Barbara S. Beverley

Guilderland

Editor’s note: Barbara S. Beverley is one of the women who was trapped in the elevator.