Woman injured in Fenway elevator fall out of hospital

Father says she is making progress at rehab facility

Lizzy Scotland fell two stories down an elevator shaft at Fenway Park.Scotland family

The 22-year-old woman seriously injured last month when she fell down an elevator shaft at Fenway Park has been released from the hospital, according to her father and a spokesman for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Lizzy Scotland of Brigantine, N.J., fell two stories down the shaft after a Red Sox game on May 16. She was not responsive when firefighters arrived on scene.

Scotland was released from the hospital Thursday, and her father said Saturday that she had been moved to a rehabilitation hospital in Boston.

“She is improving every day. Making great progress,” said John Scotland in a phone interview. “We’re very hopeful of her condition, and hopeful that she will make a really, really great recovery.”

It is too early to say whether Scotland will make a full recovery, but she is able to communicate enough to tell her parents if she is in pain or not, he said. Improving her communication will be part of her rehabilitation.

“I just want to reiterate how grateful we are to the firemen, the EMTs, the police, to the Boston community that just embraced us,” John Scotland said. “We just felt very much supported and cared for. Thank you. It meant a lot to us.”

Details of what happened the night Lizzy Scotland fell have remained hazy. Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said Saturday that she was with at least one person when she plunged from the fourth floor and landed on top of the elevator car in Fenway Park, which was stopped on the second floor.

Boston police investigated and the next day issued Fenway Park a licensed premise violation for an injured patron and an intoxicated patron, said Boston police spokeswoman Officer Rachel McGuire Saturday. The violation does not specify who the intoxicated patron or patrons were, she said, and it does not imply fault in the accident.

“This happens whenever anything happens on one of these licensed premises,” said McGuire. “It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the elevator incident itself.”

The investigation into how Scotland fell into the elevator shaft is being conducted by state inspectors, said McGuire. A spokesman for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, which oversees the state Board of Elevator Regulations, could not be reached for comment.

The day after Scotland fell, the Red Sox said team personnel had worked alongside first responders to help her, and that the remaining elevators in the park were inspected before the next game as a precaution. A spokeswoman for the Red Sox, which is principally owned by John Henry, who also owns The Boston Globe, said the organization continues to wish Scotland “a rapid and successful recovery,” but declined to comment further.