August 07, 2016
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
The Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center, 1301 Filbert St., Center City.
The Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center will be open Monday for the first time since the building was evacuated last week when an elevator malfunction seriously injured one person.
A message posted on the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania's website Sunday indicated elevator experts hired by the city and state inspectors had examined all of the building's elevators and determined they are safe for use. There were no details about what caused the incident.
The criminal justice center had been closed since Thursday when the elevators used primarily by judges, and not open to the public, malfunctioned, causing one to crash through the ceiling of the elevator shaft and into the building's penthouse.
One person was in that elevator car, identified by NBCPhiladelphia.com as Sgt. Paul Owens of the Philadelphia Sheriff's Department. He was tossed about the elevator during the incident and reportedly suffered several broken bones in his back. That crash caused debris to fall down the elevator shaft and land on a car in the center's basement. A woman inside that car suffered minor injuries.
The message on the court system's website said jurors already selected for trials in progress, and any victim's witness and defendants involved in trials that were in progress when the building was evacuated should report to the justice center Monday.
Prospective jurors, witnesses and defendants notified to appear in court on Monday must report to the justice center as scheduled.
Those who had been scheduled to appear in court last Friday, and those who had proceedings interrupted by the elevator malfunction, will have their court dates reschueduled and will be notified by the court when to appear.
