Staten Island manhole swallows texting teen
Print'Oh my God, it was putrid'
Posted in Bootnotes, 14th July 2009 08:35 GMT
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A Staten Island teen paid an unexpected visit to the borough's sewer system after falling down a manhole while texting, Staten Island Advance reports.
Alexa Longueira, 15, was walking with a chum last week when the unattended aperture swallowed her. She recounted: "She literally just handed me the phone and I opened it [and] I felt this big drop.
"It was four or five feet, it was very painful. I kind of crawled out and the DEP guys came running and helped me. ... They were just, like, 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!'"
The DEP guys in question belong to the Department of Environmental Protection, and were at the time flushing out the sewer. They claimed they left the open manhole "for only a second as they went to fetch some cones from the truck".
Ms Longueira suffered nothing more than scrapes to her arms and back in the incident, although the Longueira family says it intends to sue.
Mum Kim Longueira says the fact her daughter was absorbed in texting "makes no difference", since the manhole shouldn't have been left to eat unsuspecting pedestrians. She concluded: "Oh my God, it was putrid. One of her sneakers is still down there." ®
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