A South Jersey native who had graduated college just hours earlier plummeted down an elevator shaft at one of America's iconic ballparks over the weekend.
A Massachusetts state official says “extreme force” against the bottom of an elevator door may have led to the fall.
Police and state inspectors are trying to determine why an elevator door at Boston's Fenway Park was open before Elisabeth "Lizzy" Scotland plunged two stories down the elevator shaft late Friday after the Red Sox lost to the Detroit Tigers, officials said Saturday.
Scotland, 22, hails from Brigantine, N.J., according to the Press of Atlantic City. Scotland graduated from Boston University's School of Management just hours before her fall, according to a family statement released by Boston attorney Patrick T. Jones.
"The Scotland family appreciates the many expressions of concern and support that have come
from the Boston community and the Red Sox organization," read the statement. "They acknowledge with gratitude the outpouring of love and support from their South Jersey community."
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Scotland fell from the fourth floor and landed on the roof of the elevator, which was stopped on the second floor.
Executive Office of Public Safety and Security spokesman Terrel Harris tells The Boston Globe the finding about the force was preliminary and investigators are still conducting their review. The office oversees the state Board of Elevator Regulations.
He says it appears that “extreme force against the bottom of the door actually broke the fasteners and the metal backup safety system that held the doors in place.”
That created a gap through which the New Jersey woman fell two stories Friday night.
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Harris said the door was “in perfect working order” during its last inspection in February.
Boston Police would determine what brought the force against the door.
Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department, said the woman was unconscious at the scene with injuries that appeared serious. Scotland was rushed to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with undisclosed injuries.
Scotland's condition "is serious and her prognosis is uncertain," according to her family statement.
The Scotland family asked for privacy at this time.
The Red Sox issued a brief statement that the team would have no comment on the incident because of the ongoing investigation and out of respect for the woman's family.
Fenway Park is the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball having opened in 1912.
