Worker Crushed To Death At Midtown Work Site, Police Say

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A construction worker was killed at a Midtown Manhattan building site Thursday when he was crushed by a piece of metal protruding from an elevator, police said.

The 24-year-old man, who was not identified by police, was riding an elevator to the Broadway and West 30th Street site's 33rd floor when he dropped his phone, police said. When the man went to pick the phone up, he got stuck and was crushed by a metal saddle that was "protruding from the elevator shaft," police said.

Medics declared the man dead at the scene, said police. No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the death, but an NYPD investigation is still ongoing.

The New York City Department of Buildings put a full stop work order in effect at the construction site, according to city records. The department issued a violation for "failure to safeguard persons and property during construction" for an unsafe elevator platform, city records show.

Development firm the Lam Group filed plans in 2014 to build a 38-story hotel building at the Midtown Manhattan site. The tower will rise 497-feet-tall and contain 401 hotel rooms, according to building plans.

Thursday's death was the second time this week that a construction worker was killed in Manhattan. A worker was killed Monday and another was hurt when a wall collapsed on them at the site of a Lower East Side synagogue destroyed in a 2017 fire.