Calling Connie Chung and Larry King

Three get stuck in elevator

"RAPID CITY -- Three people were stuck for about half an hour in an elevator that would go up and down but wouldn't open....

[The people] discovered when they reached their floor that the door wouldn't open. Meanwhile, people on other floors were pushing the buttons to bring the elevator to them.

"They went up and down a couple of times," Lt. Ty Reber of the Rapid City Fire Department said.

The trapped people shouted to the folks outside and used the emergency phone in the elevator to call for help, Reber said.

Reber and two other crew members from Station 7 at Anamosa and North Maple got to the apartment building about 5:45 p.m. and used a special key to open the door, releasing the trapped people.

An elevator service technician reset the elevator and rode it up and down several times to make sure it worked. The technician wasn't sure why the door malfunctioned, Reber said. Although not common, such elevator problems occur occasionally, he said...."