In the two months since Stevie Wheels moved into the Ruth Lillian Barkley public housing complex in Boston’s South End, he says the elevator has been broken four different times.
The Air Force veteran, who is in his late 60s, is a double amputee and uses a power wheelchair. He said he feels unsafe, that living on the sixth floor with a broken elevator is like existing in a “death trap.” What if there was a fire and he couldn’t get out?
So when Wheels noticed the elevator was broken on Wednesday, he decided to shimmy down the six flights of stairs on his behind with his backup manual wheelchair and go to South Station, where he regularly hangs out. He slept outside, where he felt safer…