[thaumasiotes]

You can easily tell that it wasn't in free fall, because if it fell 84 floors in free fall and then stopped, the passengers would have died.

[nsxwolf]

It could have slowed down gradually and stopped. The articles I’ve read don’t do a good job describing anything.

[thaumasiotes]

If it slows down gradually, it's not in free fall.

[dedotated]

Guess again. The cable could break at floor 84, and the elevator car could travel through the next 50 floors, and not slow it’s descent until the 34th floor, at which point, given ten vertical feet per floor, it would still have a total stopping distance of nearly 200 feet, or 2/3 (66%) of a football field.

So, 500 feet of freefall is still substantial. That puts the situation on par with a bungee jump.