Park Slope 4-Year-Old Dies in Horrific Elevator Accident at Luxury Parking Garage

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A local 4-year-old boy named Jack Roberts passed away Thursday after a nightmarish accident the night before, in which he plunged 50 feet down a service elevator shaft at Park Slope's most expensive parking garage, according to the New York Times.

Attendants at the 841 Union St. garage, where spots are going for nearly $300,000 these days, normally provide valet service, so customers seldom use the elevator, the Times reported.

However, for reasons still unknown, an attendant reportedly took Roberts and his parents up to the garage's third floor in the elevator Wednesday night — where the boy then slipped through a 10-inch gap between the elevator and the wall.

The boy's nanny, Alice Soriano, said in an interview with the Times that when she got news of Roberts' fall, she called her priest and said: "Please, I need a prayer for Jack. He’s our angel."

According to the Times:

Jack had blonde hair, which he wore in a bowl cut. At a park near his house, he was remembered for playing fearlessly on the jungle gym and the swings. His liked freestyle dancing, music lessons and soccer games, Ms. Soriano and his aunt said. He wanted to be a contractor when he grew up.

The parking garage on Union, often referred to as the Park Slope Garage Condominium, advertises itself on real-estate websites as a "safe and convenient indoor facility" with a "courteous and professional staff of full time attendants is there for you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."

It's located on the same block as other neighborhood hotspots like the Park Slope Food Coop, Park Slope Yoga and Dixon's Bicycle Shop.

But city records show the garage, owned by Howard Pronsky of Berman Realty, has a long history of bad upkeep when it comes to its service elevator.

For example, the NYC Department of Buildings discovered in summer 2014 that the garage had neglected to fix elevator "defects" discovered by city inspectors two full years earlier, in 2012.

And in November 2014, Pronsky paid a $1,000 fine for not complying to city code regarding elevator safety.

Patch has reached out to the garage owner for comment.