Tropicana spokeswoman Diane Spiers said the elevator was built to handle 12 passengers or 3,000 pounds. But surveillance video from a camera in the elevator showed that 20 to 21 people were aboard, "which caused the elevator to go into an overload status."
"Due to the overload condition, the elevator descended and came to a controlled stop at the ground level," she said. "The doors were then manually opened by Tropicana personnel. All passengers were safely removed and medical attention was immediately provided."
Jackie Dufner, 21 of Monroe Township, Middlesex County, was one of those aboard. She said she and several friends got on the elevator at the 34th floor.
"The doors closed, and you felt it dip a little bit, and then we started falling," she said. "We thought we were going to die.
We hit really hard and we all rose into the air and slammed down."
Dufner said she and about four others were injured by the sudden stop. She said she suffered a sprained ankle and was taken along with the others to a hospital for treatment. The most serious injury involved a woman whose leg was hurt, she said.
Spiers said the Tropicana did not have a firm count of how many people were injured.
"The equipment performed exactly the way it should have performed," Tropicana President Mark Giannantonio said.
