Elevator that crushed Boston University professor Carrie O'Connor is like 'riding in an antique' and 'unnerving'
Olivia House
Published Aug 22, 2026
AN ELEVATOR that crushed Boston University professor Carrie O'Connor was described by a resident as like "riding an antique."
O'Connor, 38, died on Monday after an elevator in her Allston, Massachusetts building dropped suddenly and ripped her arm off.
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Leanne Scorzoni, who lives in the building, told The Boston Globe that the elevator does not "feel dangerous or broken" – but that it wouldn't always line up with the floor when it stopped on each level.
Scorzoni said "you have to slightly step up to get out."
"This can definitely feel springy and unnerving," she told The Globe.
Scorzoni added: "I would not say that it feels dangerous or broken, but I will say it feels as if you’re riding in an antique.
"It’s not always a good feeling," she told The Globe.
O'Connor,who was a French lecturer at Boston University, was loading a package into the elevator when it dropped suddenly.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Police said her cause of death was "traumatic asphyxia" and determined the "manner was accidental" in an autopsy.
The professor had just reportedly recently moved to the building.
A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Sun that a man who witnessed the tragedy was taken to the hospital for evaluation, but was not physically harmed.
"He saw things that no one should ever see," the person said.
Eric Carmichael told Boston CBS affiliate WBZ the incident was "gruesome."
"Terrible old elevator that should have been probably kept up better," he told WBZ.
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Records from the Department of Professional Licensure showed the elevator was last inspected on March 26, The Globe reported.
A 60-day notice was given to fix a stop switch – and stated that if no proof was shown to indicate repairs had been made, it could lead to "the unit being shut down," according to The Globe.
Commonwealth Elevator certified that repairs had been made on April 22, the newspaper reported.
Eyewitness reports how Boston woman was ‘crushed to death when old fashioned elevator suddenly dropped and ripped her arm off’
