Elderly people suffer accident in clinic elevator in Montenegro, RS The owner of a health clinic in Montenegro and the engineer responsible for the elevator where an elderly couple died in 2023 became defendants for culpable homicide, when there is no intention to kill. The complaint was received by the Court of Justice of Rio Grande do Sul (TJRS) on the 24th. They were identified as Rogerio de Barros Macedo and Ivan de Petinga de Cerqueira Filho. g1 contacted lawyer Gustavo Harres de Oliveira, who represents the defendants, but did not receive a response until the publication of this report. ? Access the g1 RS channel on WhatsApp The case According to the investigation, the victims, Erineu Alves and Alsira Guilherme de Jesus de Souza, aged 92 and 83 respectively, arrived at the clinic on July 19, 2023 for an appointment scheduled on the upper floor of the building. Erineu died after an elevator accident at a clinic in Montenegro. Reproduction/Social Media According to the Public Ministry, the elevator door on the ground floor opened normally and the couple entered the equipment. However, the cabin would not be in place, but stopped on the upper floor. After closing the door, the structure would have started to descend and hit the elderly. The man died on the same day as a result of the injuries he suffered, as shown in the autopsy report. The woman remained hospitalized and died about a month and a half later due to injuries caused by the accident. Investigation and complaint Elevator was closed and underwent examination at the clinic. Elderly people were hit by equipment and hospitalized in serious condition Disclosure/Civil Police According to the complaint, an expert identified that the system responsible for preventing the door from opening when the cabin was not on the floor was not working. The experts also found the installation of a spring with a resistance more than 17 times lower than that required for the equipment, which would have allowed the door to open even without the presence of the cabin. The Public Ministry also points out that the engineer failed to issue the Technical Responsibility Note (ART) during the maintenance services carried out on the elevator. The document, mandatory in these cases, would only have been provided after the tragedy. For the Prosecutor's Office, the engineer acted with negligence and incompetence in allowing the equipment to continue operating under these conditions. In relation to the owner of the clinic, according to the MP, the understanding is that there was negligence in keeping the elevator in operation despite the problems presented. The investigations indicated that employees and patients had already reported equipment failures before the accident. Even given the records of recurring defects, according to the MP, the person responsible for the clinic would not have suspended the use of the elevator nor adopted effective measures to correct the problems. The prosecutor stated that concluding the case required deepening the investigation. Initially, the engineer had been indicted by the Civil Police. During the steps requested by the MP, elements emerged that would indicate that the elevator's defects were known to the clinic owner. "The investigation showed that the negligence of both played a decisive role in the occurrence of the tragedy", points out prosecutor Thiago Loureiro Pires de Abreu. In addition to the conviction for the two manslaughters, the Public Prosecutor's Office asked the Court to set a minimum amount of compensation for moral and material damages to the victims' families. VIDEOS: Everything about RS