Ben Carson visits public housing, immediately gets stuck in an elevator

Alonzo Mourning and police wait for the fire department to arrive to rescue Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who was stuck in the elevator at the Courtside Family Apartments on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 in Miami, Fla. (Rene Rodriguez/Miami Herald/TNS) less Alonzo Mourning and police wait for the fire department to arrive to rescue Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who was stuck in the elevator at the Courtside Family Apartments on Wednesday, ... more Photo: Rene Rodriguez, TNS Photo: Rene Rodriguez, TNS Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close Ben Carson visits public housing, immediately gets stuck in an elevator 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

Ben Carson got an up-close look at the infrastructure he's tasked with overseeing when he got stuck in an elevator Wednesday.

The U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development was on a tour visiting affordable housing in Miami when he, Miami-Dade County Public Housing Director Michael Liu and five others were trapped in a stalled elevator. According to a Miami Herald reporter on the scene, but not in the elevator, it took about 20 minutes for firefighters to come and free them.

The #BreakingNews no one asked for but everyone deserves. Ben Carson and wife freed from Miami housing complex elevator. per @JuliaNBC6 pic.twitter.com/FmEFwqNLg8 — Chris Stewart (@CStewartWPTV) April 12, 2017

To add to the surreal scene, former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning should have been in the elevator too. Mourning was 15 minutes late, however, so the others opted to start the tour without him. This was lucky for all parties involved, as adding a 6-foot-10 basketball player to a crowded, stalled elevator sounds hellish.

Mourning, whose nonprofit co-developed the housing unit, reportedly "apologized profusely" when Carson finally emerged from the steel trap.

Carson — or at least his PR team — didn't hold it against Mourning. Shortly after his elevator incident, Carson's Twitter account tweeted about the "great meeting w/ Alonzo Mourning who is doing great work with low income housing."