An Atlanta teenager was killed in a freak accident when an elevator malfunctioned and pinned him between two floors of an apartment building, reports said.

JauMarcus McFarland, 19, got jammed between the falling cab and the third floor of the building on Tuesday afternoon, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Friends are blaming the freak accident on the condition of the elevator — but the property manager claims 16 people overcrowded the elevator and caused a deadly “domino effect,” reports said.

Friends tried to pull 19-year-old JauMarcus McFarlandthe police report.

Horrified witnesses called 911 as McFarland’s legs dangled to the second floor below, the report said. The athlete lost consciousness and died after rescuers worked an hour to free him, the Journal-Constitution said.

McFarland, a Missouri resident, had just started in August at Atlanta’s Champion Prep Academy, where teenagers can enroll in an educational and athletic program as a bridge before applying to colleges.

“JauMarcus was a wonderful teammate who touched the lives of those around him,” a GoFundMe page for the athlete said. “We are at a loss and his family in Missouri is utterly devastated.”

The teen, a football player who dreamed of going pro, had been living in the building with fellow athletes, reports said. The elevator was known to have operational issues and had been due for a state inspection in August 2020, WSBT reported.

JauMarcus McFarland
JauMarcus McFarland lost consciousness and died after rescuers worked an hour to free him.
GoFundMe

“We knew something like this was going to happen one day,” teammate Bryson Grove told the station. “We didn’t know it was going to take one of our teammate’s lives.”

But property manager Nathan Phillips said the elevator had 16 people on it when the freak accident happened that said it pushed its weight capacity 1,000 pounds over its 3,000-pound limit.

“Unfortunately, this appears to be what started the domino effect of events leading to the unfortunate death of this young man,” Phillips said in a statement to WXIA. “This is a horrible tragedy, and it deeply saddens us all that this has happened.”

McFarland’s coach at the academy, Michael Carson, said all of the students are like “our children.

“You value the time, the seconds, the minutes, the hours you have to spend with these guys,” he told the Journal-Constitution. “And I hope they realize the importance of every moment they have to breathe life.”

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