arguably, he had justifications for that, too. (the GOP were calling a snap vote and he wanted time to read the bill. or so he said. Though also, I wouldn’t be surprised if it really turned out, he was in a hurry, thought the door was supposed to be unlocked and got flustered enough to have pulled it by mistake. people in a hurry like that are… kinda dumb… )
Fire code generally requires that one can always get out. Locked doors that are used for egress have pull stations that frequently (at least in the US) look exactly like fire pulls. - Typically they’re blue or green instead of red with different relevant text. All anyone sees is “EMERGENCY” … which is why it’s usually considered bad practice to put fire pulls anywhere near a door now. (And I’m kind of surprised the complex had fire pulls at all, they generally generate far more false alarms than they do real ones- and the real pulls generally happen after smokes or other sensors. They also pose vulnerabilities of the “terrorists” kind.)
There was also speculation that he really did it to delay the vote. The bill didn’t get into his hands with enough time to review it; not even the promised window… and he was concerned that things might have been slipped in.
Either scenario is is plausible to me; in experience people confronted with a door they think should be unlocked get weird and dumb (I’ve been working in contract security for over 15 years. I’ve… seen a lot of dumb people locked out. My favorite is when they’re holding the key but can’t find it….I try not to laugh.)
arguably, he had justifications for that, too. (the GOP were calling a snap vote and he wanted time to read the bill. or so he said. Though also, I wouldn’t be surprised if it really turned out, he was in a hurry, thought the door was supposed to be unlocked and got flustered enough to have pulled it by mistake. people in a hurry like that are… kinda dumb… )
I thought the statement was that he thought triggering the alarm would open the door nearby, non?
Yes.
Fire code generally requires that one can always get out. Locked doors that are used for egress have pull stations that frequently (at least in the US) look exactly like fire pulls. - Typically they’re blue or green instead of red with different relevant text. All anyone sees is “EMERGENCY” … which is why it’s usually considered bad practice to put fire pulls anywhere near a door now. (And I’m kind of surprised the complex had fire pulls at all, they generally generate far more false alarms than they do real ones- and the real pulls generally happen after smokes or other sensors. They also pose vulnerabilities of the “terrorists” kind.)
There was also speculation that he really did it to delay the vote. The bill didn’t get into his hands with enough time to review it; not even the promised window… and he was concerned that things might have been slipped in.
Either scenario is is plausible to me; in experience people confronted with a door they think should be unlocked get weird and dumb (I’ve been working in contract security for over 15 years. I’ve… seen a lot of dumb people locked out. My favorite is when they’re holding the key but can’t find it….I try not to laugh.)