An elevator malfunction in SF's Russian Hill Monday caused it to plunge three stories with someone inside before the emergency brakes abruptly stopped the free fall, sending the person to the hospital with moderate to severe injuries.

The San Francisco Fire Department received a call about the incident at 8:44 am Monday, which occurred at 1475 Vallejo Street near Polk, a four-story multi-unit building in Russian Hill. As the Chronicle reports, the building was constructed in 1917, based on property records.

SFFD Lieutenant Mariano Elias, the public information officer for the fire department, told SFGate the elevator fell “multiple floors” with someone inside and abruptly stopped when the emergency brakes were activated. While the brakes fortunately kept the elevator from crashing into the bottom of the elevator shaft, the sudden stop caused the person to sustain moderate to severe injuries, and they were taken to the hospital.  

“It’s like going 50 mph and slamming on the brakes,” he said.

According to the Chronicle, the building owner was issued a notice of violation by the San Francisco Department of Building Inspections. The department said it had not received any prior complaints about the building’s elevator, and it didn’t have any information about the cause of the malfunction.

Elias told SFGate that while the fire department receives a lot of calls about people stuck in elevators in San Francisco, injuries like this are rare. He said it's much more common to encounter people going through a state of panic from being trapped in the elevator for a period of time.

Image: Google Street View

The body found inside an elevator shaft at Sharon Building (55 New Montgomery Street) has been identified as 38-year-old Dr. Daniel J. Kliman, an Alameda physician and "one of the Bay Area's foremost pro-Israel activists."

Quite the controversial figure, Kliman curiously died late last week after allegedly stepping into an open shaft, plunging several stories to his death. Kliman, an Oakland resident, was the co-founder S.F. Voice for Israel, an organization that demonstrates on behalf of Israeli causes. Members of S.F. Voice for Israel have asked SFPD to investigate his death in order to rule out homicide.

Update: Word is that Kliman did not walk into the open elevator shaft as the media has reported. Inspector Matt Krimsky of the San Francisco Police Department tells SF Weekly:

"He gets into the elevator car. For some inexplicable reason, the elevator gets stuck between floors -- we think between the sixth and seventh. He is somehow able to open the doors from inside and sees that he's between floors ... [w]e know he got into the elevator ... and ended up in the elevator well. How he did that is under investigation."

Krimsky, who is investigating Kliman's death, goes on to say that while "words have been twisted around," there is "no evidence of foul play whatsoever." Read more about it here.

A body was stuck in the Crunch Fitness/Academy of Art elevator on New Montgomerey over the weekend. Word is that the unidentified male or female died while trapped in the elevator.

We called Crunch on New Montgomerey this afternoon, and they confirmed that a body was, in fact, stuck in the elevator over the weekend, but wouldn't say whether or not he or she died. According to a reader, however, there was a medical examiners van parked outside today. They claim that it was a "dead body." Creepy

More info as it comes to us. (No MSM has picked up the story yet. If pressed, we'll be forced to go to Crunch Fitness -- something we promised we would never do.)

Update: Looks like it was, in fact, a dead body. And it was inside the elevator of the Sharon building. Cops and meds are still there as of 4:30 p.m.

Update II: The 5 o'clock news doesn't seem to be reporting it. At least it's not in their top-news-of-the-hour. Strange.

Update III: The body, found by a repair crew, was discovered at the bottom of the elevator shaft. "The unidentified victim apparently fell accidentally after summoning the elevator at 55 New Montgomery St. over the weekend," according to SFGate. The incident happened at 55 New Montgomery Street, not at the Academy of Art, which is just next door. (Though we're just sure the Academy is in on it. They're everywhere. They own SF.)

In the Tenderloin on Saturday night, three men were heatedly arguing in an apartment building over on the 400 block of Jones Street (at Ellis). During the fight, one man died after he suspiciously fell down an elevator shaft, landing on an elevator car several floor sbelow. So far the details are sketchy. Although the deceased is still unidentified (as well as the two men arrested in connection), he's described as being "in his 40s."

Don't most elevator doors have locking mechanisms for when the car is on another level? Seems like these things should be checked more closely, especially in the older buildings in the TL.

Anyway, SFPD have declined to give additional details about the gruesome and unfortunate incident. We'll update you with more info as it comes in.