Man, 57, charged with tampering with apartment-building elevators

Mischief charges against a 57-year-old Toronto man accused of tampering with two apartment-building elevators appear to involve an ongoing strike by elevator workers, a police source said Friday.

Manager of the high-rise building, in the Kipling-Finch area of the city's northwest, called an elevator-service company to deal with a problem and a man showed up claiming to be a maintenance worker who had been assigned to the job.

In fact, he had no such authorization from the company and instead of fixing the elevators he shut them both down.

The unidentified man was subsequently charged with mischief and interfering with property, and after speaking to him detectives concluded his actions stemmed from a work stoppage by the International Union of Elevator Constructors that began earlier this week, the police source said.

As a result, authorities are urging the public to be wary of any similar incidents.