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NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) — Music City, get your claustrophobia in check.
Turns out Nashville has an increasing problem with people getting stuck in elevators.
According to the volume of 911 calls, Nashville had 158 calls of entrapment in 2017, then 231 calls in 2017, and between 2018 to today, there have been 373 calls.
News4 Investigates listened to a year and a half of 911 calls to find out what people are experiencing and where the entrapments occurred the most.
We mapped out the locations and, to no surprise, the majority occurred in the downtown corridor.
In the 911 calls, monitors that responds to emergency calls from elevators, and the people trapped themselves, describe the troubling encounters.
“She’s kind of panicking,” said a representative from a monitoring company in a call to 911. “A young lady is trapped in the elevator and she says it’s hard for her to breathe.”
One man called 911 from a stuck elevator and described the noise he heard before it stopped moving.
“I got a big clunk and a sudden stop and jarred me pretty well and a big noise,” the caller said.
It’s clear that the city has more elevators every year, with new buildings and condos.
But shouldn’t that mean that the newer elevators should function better than older elevators?
Not necessarily, said Steven Hawkins with the state department of labor, which oversees the twice annual inspections of elevators.
Hawkins said their elevators inspectors find that newer elevators have a “settling in” process.
“They work more reliably if they’ve been in place for a few months,” Hawkins said.
Our analysis of 911 calls found the Gossett apartments had nine entrapments the second highest number of entrapments in the city since 2018.
While the Gossett gets plenty of great reviews online, it also received several one-star reviews, including one person who wrote, “Fix your elevator and I’ll fix my rating.:
In one 911 call from the Gossett, a representative from a monitoring company called 911 to say that people were trapped and they couldn’t reach anyone with the building.
“I couldn’t get a hold of anyone at the property, so then we called you guys,” the monitor said.
News4 I-Team called the Gossett, and a woman said that they were under new management and someone would be calling us back.
We have not heard again from her or anyone with management with the Gossett.
The building with the most entrapments (10) since 2018 is the Public Square Garage on Church Street.
When News4 Investigates went to check it out, we found a sign apologizing for the elevators being down and that required replacements have been ordered and are expected shortly.
Despite our repeated calls and emails to Premiere Parking, which operates the garage, they did not respond by our deadline.
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