MANHATTAN, N.Y. (WPIX) – A customer was freed from a safety deposit room in Manhattan’s Diamond District on Wednesday morning after getting locked inside the night before, according to authorities in New York City.
The 23-year-old man had been accessing his safety deposit box at a facility operated by DGA Securities on Tuesday night when an employee closed the vault without realizing a customer was still inside, Deputy Assistant Chief John Sarrocco of the FDNY told reporters Wednesday.
The FDNY was notified of the incident at around 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday.
Officials arrived and were able to communicate with the customer via a phone in the vault room, Chief Sarrocco said. The could also see the man on closed-circuit cameras.
There was no way to open or override the vault door after it had closed for the night, according to Chief Sarrocco.
“Once it’s closed, it’s on a timing mechanism. That vault does not reopen until a certain amount of time passes,” he told reporters.
The FDNY’s rescue unit arrived with tools to bore through one of the vault’s walls, which were composed of concrete reinforced with steel bars and plates. The technicians initially made progress, but decided against continuing for fear that the torches needed to cut through the steel plates would create a dangerous environment inside the vault.
“We determined that … we would hold off and see if the doors would open automatically,” Chief Sarrocco said.
The customer inside was also in no imminent danger, as there was adequate ventilation in the 20-foot-by-40-foot room, officials said.
At 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the vault door unlocked automatically, at which point the 23-year-old was able to walk out. An NYPD spokesperson said the man sustained no injuries and no criminality is suspected.
“He’s fine,” Chief Sarrocco said Wednesday morning. “He’s being evaluated by EMS.”
