Chinese Food Delivery Gone Wrong

Here's the best story of the week, even though it is only Wednesday.

On Monday a Chinese food deliveryman went missing in the Bronx (search). They found his bike chained up outside a Bronx apartment building where he made his last delivery. He didn't come home; he didn't come to work.

Around here, sadly, that means one thing: He got robbed and killed shortly after making his delivery. They started poking around the edge of the rivers to see if a body turned up.

Well, no body turned up. Cops continued to swarm the 800-apartment complex looking for signs of the Chinese food deliveryman.

By the way, his name is Min Kuang Chen (search). And he isn't dead. He wasn't robbed, he wasn't mugged, and he didn't get whacked on the head and tossed in the river.

He was stuck in the elevator for three and a half days — the elevator in the building where he delivered the food.

On his way down after the delivery, the elevator fell about thirty stories and stopped between the 4th and 5th floor. He says he pushed the emergency button and the intercom button, trying to talk to people in the security office, but they couldn't understand him, didn't know where he was, and finally turned the intercom off.

Now he had already delivered the food, so he had nothing to eat. He didn't have any bottled water, or iced tea, so he was without anything to drink.

And there he stayed — ignored — even while cops were searching for his body.

Three and a half days in the elevator. It turns out nobody expects the elevators to run at this apartment house, so it didn't mean much that one was stuck. People at the apartment building just ignored it.

When Mr. Chen was finally discovered, he was delirious with thirst, and hungry. He doesn't speak English too well, so it took some time to figure out what happened to him.

But now that they know, it's a big lesson around New York. If somebody goes missing, before you drag the rivers, check the elevators. Never know who's stuck in there or how long they've been there.

That's My Word.

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