Partygoer recalls terrifying moment drummer Gerhardt Fuchs died falling down elevator shaft

Partygoer recalls terrifying moment drummer Gerhardt Fuchs died falling down elevator shaft
Williamsburg drummer Gerhardt Fuchs who fell to his death early Sunday morning

He was a witness to tragedy - and it's left him shaken.
A photographer trapped in the same stalled Williamsburg elevator with doomed drummer Gerhardt "Jerry" Fuchs recalled yesterday watching the man plunge to his death.

"I tried to reach out for him," Stephen Alessi said yesterday. "I was too far and it happened so fast, in a split second."


Fuchs' hoodie somehow got snagged on the elevator as he and Alessi, 24, jumped out of it. The 34-year-old indie rocker, who drummed for the band Maserati and other rock groups, fell about 50 feet to the bottom of the shaft.

Alessi said he did not know Fuchs but that they were both heading up to the same party on the top floor of 338 Berry St.
The freight elevator they took jerked to a halt between the fifth and sixth floors.

After 20 minutes, a party organizer and a man who appeared to work in the building helped them pry the doors open, said Alessi, who vaulted out first.

"It didn't seem like a big jump," he added. "As soon as I jumped off I turned around and saw how big that gap was."
Fuchs hopped out next.

"He landed with his feet on the floor and his hood caught on something and it just gave him a little tug back," Alessi said.
"It pulled him off balance."

A lawyer for building owner Mona Gora said the freight elevator is not normally in operation past business hours and owners are looking into who was manning it at 1 a.m.

"Our investigation has shown so far that there is nothing wrong with the elevator," said Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri.

Alessi, of Williamsburg, said he hasn't been able to sleep since the early Sunday morning incident.

"It's just really shocking," Alessi said.
"You don't expect something like that to happen when you are just trying to go to a party."