Catching Elevators

On August 30, 2000, the mesh-gate door on the eighth floor jammed and wouldn't close. Then the elevator stopped dead on the first floor. George Canales, the 54-year-old concierge, didn't want to leave an open gate into an empty elevator shaft, so he went to the eighth floor to fix it. While he was trying to pull the gate closed, Canales fell down the shaft.

Colby Dillin, a first-grader at Trinity Valley School in Fort Worth, was vacationing at his best friend's beach house in Pensacola, Florida. It was spring break March 1998; the six-year-olds Jet Skied, jumped waves, and that morning they visited the Naval Air Museum so Colby could see the airplane exhibition. Colby loved airplanes. He was scheduled to fly home the next day.

Colby, his older sister and his best friend climbed onto the first-floor elevator inside the beach house. The door opened while the elevator was moving. Colby stuck his head out and peered over the edge. His head got caught and was crushed between the ceiling of the first floor and the elevator.

There were safety devices that could have saved Colby's life, says his father, Fort Worth orthopedic surgeon Linden Dillin. But they were optional. "This kid never should have died," Dillin says.

Dillin vowed to use the $5.7 million settlement he gained from the elevator company to create laws regulating private elevators. "In most states, there are no regulations related to elevators in private homes," he says. "There's not even any codes that are enforced. At the time Colby died there were no laws in Texas."

Dillin and his now-14-year-old daughter, who was in the elevator with Colby, testified in both Tallahassee and Austin. The argument he met was that the government shouldn't control what happens inside private homes. "We're going to value the absolute right to run things in our house over the right of other people to come into our house and be safe," Dillin says. "The state needs to step into people's houses and say, 'No. You don't rule here.' "

Despite the Dillins' efforts, Texas laws are fairly lax. In Houston, a private elevator has to be inspected when it's installed -- but never again after that. While acknowledging that recommending homeowners regularly maintain and inspect elevators is akin to telling people it's a good idea to check the batteries in smoke detectors, Pruitt still says that what happens inside a private home is not within the city's jurisdiction. "It's not our business."

The state requires only that contractors inform homeowners that having an elevator inspected is a good idea. But it's left to the homeowner's discretion.

"There should be inspections for everyone -- regardless of where you're at," says Elie Graustein, a partner at Lone Star Elevator Company, which installs 60 to 70 private elevators in Houston each year. "There's a lot of people installing elevators that are not really elevators."

For example, Graustein says, a Galveston man used to install homemade elevators that didn't have any safety devices -- they were just attached to a chain hoist on the ceiling. "He called them dumbwaiters," Graustein says. "But they were big enough to ride in. If there were inspections for stuff like that, that would not have been allowed to be installed."

Another problem is that many do-it-yourself homeowners try to fix their own elevators, Marchal says. "We can't stop them," he says. "No more than anyone can stop you from going to work on your air conditioner. It's in your house. If you want to work on it, have at it."

Home elevators usually have an outside door to make the elevator look like a closet, in addition to a gate that rides up and down with the elevator. Many homeowners remove the inside gate because it's a hassle to open and close. But that violates safety codes -- and often makes the elevator safety device kick in and stop the elevator. If a homeowner decides he wants the elevator to run, despite safety issues, most local repair companies the Press interviewed say they refuse -- because if they work on an elevator and it doesn't meet the safety code and someone later gets hurt, they can get sued.

"We always say, 'Look, if you want us to work on it, we're gonna put it back,' " Graustein says. Still, he adds: "We have no control over what they do after we leave."

As part of the Dillins' settlement agreement, the manufacturer of the elevator on which Colby died was required to send Linden Dillin a letter documenting exactly what safety changes the company has implemented since Colby's death.

"I still haven't received that letter," Dillin says. "They sent us some brochures."

Both elevators 14 and 15 at St. Joseph are now boarded up, covered in peach-painted plywood, which blends into the hospital's peach walls. Black duct tape covers the call button. A pink-and-purple sign directs visitors to the elevator down the hall.