When a Tenderloin SRO elevator door opened on an empty shaft, a blind hotel resident fell to his death, another resident tells SFist.

The San Francisco Fire Department confirmed that on August 20th at around 10:30 p.m. it responded to a call from the Hartland Hotel at 909 Geary Street. There, they discovered a blind man in his mid-50s who had fallen two-and-a-half stories and was "underneath the elevator."

The man was extricated and transported to SF General. However, the office of the Medical Examiner confirmed the death of a man matching that description — Stevie Newson of San Francisco — indicating that the accident proved fatal.

The story is reminiscent of the recent horrors at the Crosby Hotel at 516 O'Farrell Street. There, in early August, a 48-year-old man was found dead in his room of blunt-force trauma, and in April, a dead woman was found in her room almost a full two months after she died. A third body was found at the Crosby as recently as late last month.

The Hartland Hotel is owned by the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. SFist has contacted the property manager at the THC in charge of the Hartland Hotel and is awaiting comment.

"I feel THC and its Hotel Manager... are sweeping this tragic death 'under the carpet,'" writes the resident who first informed SFist of the accident. "I did come in contact with this man prior to his death, coming in and out of the building and he was a very sweet person...The staff here has been instructed to be very tight lipped about this incident but I just feel that because this person was in an SRO and may or may not have had family, THC is going to hope this gets forgotten about when in fact, I feel their neglect caused this blind man's death."

The hotel desk declined to comment.

Related: Third Body In Several Months Found In The Same Tenderloin SRO, Investigation Ongoing