'He's a hero': Dog rescued by maintenance man in close elevator call
A south Edmonton dog is OK thanks to her favourite maintenance worker noticing she had been stranded on the outside of an elevator going up.
The rescue, captured on the building's security footage, is nail biting.
"I don’t know if I want to watch it," Charley's owner Angela Welz told CTV News Edmonton.
On Tuesday, she and Charley were returning to their apartment from one of their outings when the pair spotted the building's maintenance worker, Bob Foster. Welz waves and continues into the elevator while Charley lingers in the lobby.
"I thought she was in the elevator with me, but she pulled out and saw the maintenance man and the elevator started to close," Welz recalled.
Foster walks out as the door starts to close. Upon realizing it has fully shut, he hits a button on the elevator's command pad, but its starts to rise anyway -- pulling Charley by her leash with it.
"I could feel the leash tugging on the door, and the door wouldn’t stop closing. I was pressing the buttons frantically, trying to stop it. I was just panicking," Welz said.
"I could see the leash moving up and I screamed at that point. I didn’t know what to do, so I was pressing buttons and all I was worried about was what I could going to find when the door opened on the other side."
Lucky for her and Charley both, Foster was on the other side. He first seems to try to find a way to unhook Charley from the leash, but with the speed the elevator begins to move, abandons the tactic and holds on.
He's lifted off his feet briefly before the leash appears to break. He keeps hold of Charley as the fall to the ground, with him bearing the brunt of the fall.
Angela Welz, Charley, Bob Foster pose for a photo. Foster saved Charley's life on Oct. 26, 2021, when she got stuck on the outside of an elevator going up. Foster held on to Charley and her leash until it snapped.
“She seems to be a little bit scared, but I think that’s normal," Welz said of Charley the next day.
"It could have been so much worse."
Charley was Welz' daughter's dog, before she passed away in 2016 from fentanyl poisoning.
“Our family is very happy that she’s OK and thanks to Bob and his service and -- he’s a hero," Welz said.
"I'm very, very indebted to him."
While the maintenance worker declined to interview, he has been told how much his heroism is appreciated.
He was gifted a mug that reads, "You're my hero. Love, Charley."
Angela Welz and Charley gave Bob Foster a mug for his heroic and quick thinking. It reads: "You're my hero. Love, Charley."
With files from CTV Edmonton’s Dave Ewasuk
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.