Fire department rescues student from elevator in Moody

Around 10:45 a.m. today, emergency responders rescued a student who was stuck in an elevator on the third floor of Moody Learning Center.

A construction worker who would not provide his name said the elevator on the third floor came to a sudden stop when he was briefing his team about an incident the night before.

He said the elevator had stopped by itself during the middle of the night on the second, fourth and seventh floors of the seven-story building.

Currently, much of the building is blocked off from the public because of extensive remodeling.

Facilities Director David Ortega explained the sequence:

As a student was ready to exit the elevator, the doors would not open because the leveling indicator did not read the elevator was there.

The student used the emergency phone in the elevator, which called the campus police; however, she could not hear them so she called either 911 or the San Antonio Fire Department, which sent a fire truck.

He said he was unsure of how long the student was stuck in the elevator.

Campus police were the first to arrive at the scene, and it took three minutes to rescue the student.

Ortega said if anyone gets trapped in the elevators on campus, they should use the emergency phone in the elevator, and campus police will be at the scene within one to five minutes.

Ortega said the elevator in Moody was inspected was two months ago.

This elevator will be taken offline by the end of this month to be modernized, he said. The motor cables, modem and buttons will be replaced.

A librarian at the reference desk on the second floor said he did not see the student who was trapped or the rescue.

Tom Bahlinger, assistant professor and reference librarian said, “All I saw was a bunch of campus police. I’ve been here for 12 years, and it’s something that happens, a couple of times a semester. I don’t know if the construction had anything to do with it.”