Suit Filed in Elevator Death

A father filed a lawsuit today after his son fell seven stories to his death down an elevator shaft in an Ames, Iowa apartment building. Ronald Pawlak filed the suit in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging the elevator wasn't "properly inspected or maintained," according to a Chicago Breaking News report. The suit "seeks damages from the elevator company and building management for wrongful death as well as funeral and burial expenses," the report said.

The incident happened a little over a month ago on June 6. Pawlak's son, Downers Grove resident Robert Pawlak, 19, was visiting a friend at Iowa State University. Pawlak's friend "playfully" pushed the teenager against the closed elevator doors on the seventh floor, according to Ames police. The doors "collapse[d] inward" and Pawlak fell past the fourth floor elevator to the bottom of the shaft. Police consider the death accidental.

[Chicago Breaking News]