Teenage athlete run over in elevator crash

An Atlanta teenager was killed in a freak accident when an elevator malfunctioned and trapped him between two floors of an apartment building, reports show.

JauMarcus McFarland, 19, got stuck between the falling cab and the building’s third floor Tuesday afternoon, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Friends attribute the abnormal crash to the condition of the elevator – but the property manager says 16 people overcrowded the elevator and caused a deadly “domino effect,” according to reports.

Friends attempted to remove the police report from 19-year-old JauMarcus McFarland.

Horrified witnesses called 911 as McFarland’s legs dangled from the second floor below, according to the report. The athlete lost consciousness and died after rescuers worked an hour to free him, the Journal-Constitution said.

McFarland, a resident of Missouri, had just started in August at Champion Prep Academy in Atlanta, where teens can enroll in an educational and athletic bridging program before enrolling in colleges.

“JauMarcus was a wonderful teammate who touched the lives of those around him,” said a GoFundMe page for the athlete. “We are lost and her family in Missouri is completely devastated.”

The teenager, a football player who dreamed of turning pro, was living in the building with other athletes, according to reports. The elevator was known to have operational issues and was due for state inspection in August 2020, WSBT reported.

“We knew something like this was going to happen someday,” teammate Bryson Grove told the station. “We didn’t know it was going to take the life of one of our teammates.”

But property manager Nathan Phillips said the elevator had 16 people on board when the freak accident happened, which said it had pushed its weight capacity 1,000 pounds above its limit. of 3,000 pounds.

“Sadly, this appears to be what triggered the domino effect of the events that led to the unfortunate death of this young man,” Phillips said in a statement to WXIA. “It is a horrible tragedy, and it saddens us deeply that this has happened.”

McFarland’s academy coach Michael Carson said all students are like “our kids.”

“You value the time, the seconds, the minutes, the hours you have to spend with these guys,” he told Journal-Constitution. “And I hope they realize the importance of each moment that they have to breathe life.”