Double amputee has to be carried up to 4th-floor apartment following elevator outage

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC/Gray News) – Video circulating among the residents of an apartment building in Alabama is putting a spotlight on what many say has become a recurring crisis inside the historic senior apartment building.

The neighbors living in Bankhead Towers in Birmingham said their days are filled with uncertainty, fear and physical strain as they navigate life without working elevators.

The situation became painfully clear when Allen, a double amputee who uses prosthetic legs, was filmed struggling on the first floor after the building’s elevator went out again.

With no way up and no functioning lift, residents were forced to improvise.

Allen’s fiancée and caretaker, April Smith, who suffers from COPD, described the moment he was forced to abandon his wheelchair and attempt to climb his way up to his apartment.

“Since the elevator wasn’t working, he had to leave his electric wheelchair downstairs, and then he had to try to scoot up the stairs, but thank God, some man came and helped him up the stairs to the fourth floor,” she said.

At first, the couple waited out the outage when the elevator first broke down over the weekend.

After it was reportedly fixed on Monday morning, the two left the apartment to run errands. However, by the time they returned, the elevator was not working again.

The residents said they still do not know what caused the outage.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue said on Sunday, a tenant damaged a sprinkler head on the building’s 15th floor, leading to flooding that seeped into several units, including Allen and April’s apartment.

The elevators stopped working shortly after, although a department spokesperson said they do not believe the two incidents are connected.

The outage is not only inconvenient for most residents; it’s immobilizing. Dozens of seniors rely on electric wheelchairs, walkers, or oxygen tanks. Some live as high as the 15th floor.

Jessie Morris lives on the first floor and uses an electric wheelchair. She said the outage has not stranded her personally, but she understands the frustration felt by many throughout the building.

When asked whether neighbors were stuck in their apartments during the outage, Morris said they should “just stay in their apartment and just hope they get the elevator fixed.”

During a visit on Monday afternoon, crews from ServPro and an elevator repair company were seen moving through the building. However, residents said the pace of progress feels slow and the uncertainty is exhausting.

“Those older people, I mean, I feel for them,” Smith said. “They’re coming up with groceries and stuff. They shouldn’t have to do this. A lot of them live on the 15th floor. They got to walk all the way to the 15th floor. I feel for them.”

WBRC reached out multiple times to Path’s Management Services, the New York-based company that oversees Bankhead Towers, asking when the elevators would be repaired and whether a long-term solution is in the works.

WBRC has not received a response as of Tuesday.

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