Robert A. Pawlak, 19, a former Hinsdale South High School student, died after plunging seven stories to his death in an Ames, Iowa apartment elevator shaft last weekend.
Ames police describe the incident as an accidental death. No foul play is suspected, police added.
According to a police, Pawlak had lived in the 200 block of Old Field Road in unincorporated Downers Grove Township. Pawlak was visiting a friend on the seventh floor of the apartment complex at 119 Stanton Ave., when the accident occurred, police said.
At about 12:30 a.m. Saturday, June 6, Pawlak and two friends left the gathering to get something to eat. As Pawlak and two friends stood in a foyer near the elevator, one of the friends allegedly pushed Pawlak against the closed door of the elevator, police Commander Mike Brennan said.
The elevator door collapsed and Pawlak fell into the shaft and landed at the bottom, resulting in his death, police said.
The elevator had been stopped at the fourth floor, but Pawlak fell between the stopped elevator and the wall to the bottom of the shaft, Brennan said.
Darien, IL —
