Doctor killed in mysterious elevator shaft fall (was missing for a week) )

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/03/MNVE14GCD6.DTL

Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

(12-02) 21:16 PST -- It was a bizarre and abrupt way to die for a man who, by all accounts, went at life full-bore and was fit and agile from riding his bicycle everywhere he went.

But as San Francisco police combed over the evidence Tuesday, investigators said this is what appears to have happened: Dr. Daniel J. Kliman, an Alameda physician and one of the Bay Area's foremost pro-Israel activists, stepped into an open elevator shaft by accident last week and died.




His body was found Monday by workers inspecting an elevator in the historic, nine-story Sharon Building at 55 New Montgomery St., where Kliman apparently plunged to his death Nov. 25. As news of the discovery filtered out Tuesday, his supporters and friends were in near disbelief that someone so dynamic could be gone.

"The first words that come to mind for me when I think of Daniel are 'vibrant' and 'alive,' " said Rabbi Judah Dardik of Beth Jacob Congregation, the orthodox synagogue in Oakland where Kliman was an active member. "That's why this is such a shock. Whenever he was in the room, he was such a huge presence."
Co-founded activist group

Kliman, 38, lived near the temple in Oakland and was perhaps best known as co-founder of S.F. Voice for Israel, a 4-year-old organization that vociferously demonstrates on behalf of Israeli causes. He also maintained a practice in Alameda as a doctor of internal medicine and was an ardent proponent of vegetarianism and alternative transportation to cars.

FULL story at link.

[ColbertWatcher]

1. How the hell does someone fall down an elevator shaft outside a gangster movie? n/t

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

3. I've heard of deaths from people trying to get off elevators stuck between floors.

I would be curious if something other than that happened.

David

[ColbertWatcher]

5. Unless someone is severely claustrophobic, staying in an elevator is always the best bet. n/t

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

6. It would be safer to hyperventilate and pass out.

[Scurrilous]

2. More here (right-wing site):

R.I.P. Dan Kliman

http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=110

[gristy]

4. San Francisco police think he stepped into the elevator shaft "by accident"?

In the absence of other information, when I think of the two choices - stepping in by accident and being thrown in, I really think being thrown in is the more likely reason.