New York’s Stephen Hewett Brown will be remembered a hero. Thursday night on New Year’s Eve, Brown valiantly sacrificed himself to save a stranger from a falling elevator car that would have crushed her, but crushed him instead. Brown’s last words were positive ones for bystanders and witnesses also, iterating “Happy New Year”. Hit the jump for the full story.
Twenty-five year old Stephen Hewett Brown, an aspiring musician, was crushed by the falling elevator after pushing Erude Sanchez, 43, through the door to the third floor in the Lower East side apartment building as about 10 witnesses onlooked with horror and disbelief.
Alisha Jiminez, 23, who was headed to a Thursday night party on the 15th floor with Stephen Hewett Brown stated:
“He was just screaming. He was screaming that he couldn’t breathe. We tried to help him. And the elevator door kept opening and closing on him.”
Brown was trapped between the elevator’s roof and the third-floor entrance, with his legs dangling into the car as people trapped inside the car tried to help him or dialed 911.
Brown’s hysterical girlfriend was alongside Sanchez’s traumatized 10-year-old nephew as the brave man slowly died before their eyes. A neighbor mentioned the screams from the elevator were so intense that her pet bird was knocked off its perch.
“It was scary, terrifying,” said the youngster, Enyel Peguro. “He did get my aunt out . . . I did start crying a little bit.”
Fallen Stephen Brown’s friend commented on his late comrade:
“It’s crazy, but that’s just who he is — he would put himself in the line of fire to help another,” said Ejiro Omenih, 22. “That shows his character.”
The apartment building is known to have a history of unfixed problems including the elevator. The building has been given several citations due to violating inspections. A court appearance was scheduled the same day as the incident, on December 31, 2015.
When press asked Brown’s mother to comment she simply stated:
“I’m grieving my son. I’m grieving my son. We don’t want to say anything.”
Rest In Peace Stephen Hewett-Brown
