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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Police officer, custodian hurt in elevator crash
Children of the Earth High School's police officer and custodian were hurt Wednesday afternoon when the freight elevator they were in suddenly plunged three metres to a concrete floor.
The officer, Const. Leon Decaire, 45, -- a Winnipeg Police Service school resource officer -- and custodian Don Kinash were both immobilized on stretchers when they were rushed to ambulances.
School principal Lorne Belmore said the men were taken to hospital with undetermined injuries. The WPS later said both were in stable condition.
Belmore said the men were using the elevator to move a bookcase from the second to first floors of the two-storey building around 2 p.m.
"The elevator had started moving, there was a bang and it dropped," Belmore said. "It dropped to the concrete floor below.
"The drop would be anywhere from eight to 10 feet," Belmore said.
A passing staff member heard the thud and called for help.
Kinash has been at the school nine years, while Decaire is completing his fifth year as Children of the Earth's school resource officer, Belmore said.
"The students and staff are shocked," he said. "These are members of our community. It's absolutely tragic for the school, for the community."
Belmore said the elevator was installed when the school on Salter Street a block south of Selkirk Avenue was built in 1988. The elevator was built to accommodate special-needs students, but with none currently enrolled, it has been used as a freight elevator.
Belmore said the school was not put in lockdown, but students were being kept in class until emergency services personnel and the media had left. Students had been told there was an accident involving two staff members, he said.
No one else was involved in the incident, said Belmore.
Children of the Earth has 212 students in grades 9 to 12.
Belmore said the division's child guidance clinic will have psychologists, social workers, counsellors and other staff in the school to help students and staff deal with the impact of the incident.
A provincial elevator inspector and two staff from workplace health and safety came to the school Wednesday afternoon, along with a representative of Kone Elevators.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 28, 2011 B3
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