A tragic elevator accident led to a student football team witnessing their teammate's death.
JauMarcus McFarland was a 19-year-old student at Champion Prep Academy, a school for athletes looking to improve their grades as they pursue college sports careers. He is remembered by those who knew him as driven, determined, and ready to change his life.
Sadly, that life was cut short when JauMarcus and his teammates were in an elevator at an Atlanta apartment complex. The team surpassed the elevator's 3,000-pound weight limit. The elevator malfunctioned, and while JauMarcus' teammates made it out, he became trapped between the elevator and the third floor as frantic 911 calls were made in attempts to save him.
Sources familiar with the apartment complex say that there have been complaints about elevator safety for some time, but the property management company maintains its belief that surpassing the weight limit likely caused the malfunction.
"The state inspectors will release their findings in due course, so it would be inappropriate for us to discuss full details until that report is complete," the property management group said in a statement.
"What we can say is the weight capacity of the elevator was 3,000 lbs. — but the 16 young athletes who were inside the elevator when this occurred pushed that limit to nearly 4,000 lbs.," the statement continued.
Calls to 911 from the building detail a horrifying scene as JauMarcus was pinned between the elevator and the third floor of the building.
"The elevator just smashed on these football players and they need somebody up here on the third floor," one caller said through tears, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"The top collapsed on them. I can't even look at it."
It took fire crews who arrived on the scene one hour to free JauMarcus. At the time, he had a faint pulse but wasn't conscious. He went into cardiac arrest and died later at an area hospital.
JauMarcus' coach, Michael Carson, remembers the 19-year-old as "a man of conviction."
"He was very respectful. Very humble."
Carson has worked with others at the school to set up a GoFundMe page benefiting JauMarcus' family, who live in Missouri.
"The student-athletes in our program — all of them — are like our children," Carson said.
"You value the time, the seconds, the minutes, the hours you have to spend with these guys. And I hope they realize the importance of every moment they have to breathe life."
