Comments on: Girl falls down manhole while texting, lawsuit pending

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:24:07 +0000

A couple of thoughts to ponder.

1. If they had just taken off the manhole cover, does anyone know how much noise a 200# pice of cast iron makes when it hits the ground.

2. She was walking with a friend (her own words), well what ahppened to the friend, she couldn’t see either and warned her.

By: kacey

kacey — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:51:49 +0000

if she was too stupid to see the open manhole what makes you think she would have seen the cones

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:07:38 +0000

Well she looks like another Darwin Award candidate to me. Some people are no good at multi-tasking, which this a prime example of. If you read the “My Fox New York” story the last line is the Mother saying it doesn’t matter that her daughter was texting, the manhole was left open unattended and that they plan on filing a lawsuit. She neglects to realize that if her daughter was paying attention, she might of been able to avoid the danger by stepping around it. I hope they get their asses handed to them and laughed out of court. I’m not saying the DEP was completely innocent of any liability but the girl was 50% responsible for the accident and the DEP taking up the other 50%.
The fact that her mom is going to file a lawsuit instead of scolding her daughter for her stupidity is what makes this whole story laughable.

Here’s the link to the Fox story:
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/nyc/090710_Texting_Teen_Falls_Down_Open_Manhole

By: Prince of manhole darkness

Prince of manhole darkness — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:49:07 +0000

I haven’t had such a good laugh reading through a thread in a long time – thank you everyone for bringing a smile and laugh to me this morning.

I have to agree that the girl texting was an accident waiting to happen – she should have been more aware of her surroundings. However, the EPA should have been more safety aware and cordoned off the area before opening the manhole.

But wait, there’s more. I’m willing to bet that even if the area were cordoned off, she still would have plummeted into the vast abyss of sewage because she wouldn’t have seen the cones. People like this are too stupid to live. She should go to the bank (where she will deposit all that money that she will ultimately be awarded), withdraw all of it and go buy herself a clue! That is, if Darwinism doesn’t weed her out first!

By: Scott Noble

Scott Noble — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:13:53 +0000

@kaonashi, If you look at the pic up top, you’ll notice that the manhole IS on the sidewalk. Manholes are frequently located on sidewalks in lots of places.

Everyone’s at fault here: The EPA admits they were 10 feet away getting cones at the time so one of them should have noticed the girl and yelled to warn her. If this is true, then the manhole was JUST opened and had the girl been looking at her surroundings AT ALL would have seen them removing the manhole cover.

By: kaonashi

kaonashi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:58:40 +0000

what was she doing walking in the road in the first place? I’d say it’s her own fault for 1, not paying attention; and 2, not walking on the sidewalk where there are no manholes to fall into.

By: Bridget Cavanaugh

Bridget Cavanaugh — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:13:08 +0000

I wonder what that last text read? Maybe something like… “help, I’ve fallen but I can’t press send” or “BRB… after I fall into the sewer..”

By: Scott Power

Scott Power — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:23:54 +0000

LOL the most commented article of the day! At the end of the day I don’t think their would be too many of us that wouldn’t think about suing. I know I would – having said that i would like to think I am capable of seeing a big whole in front of me when I walk.

By: mattsos

mattsos — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:32:01 +0000

so ur driving and texting and u hit someone. u gonna sue the pedestrian for damaging ur car??

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:04:51 +0000

Too bad she didn’t lose her cell phone instead of (or in addition to) her shoe. Maybe (and that’s a big emphasis on the word “maybe”) if she didn’t have one she wouldn’t have taken a harrowing kerplunk into the sewer in the first place. Stupid people like this shouldn’t be propagated or allowed to perpetuate their neverending contagion of stupidity upon the world. I hope her family loses their lawsuit against the Department of Environmental Protection.

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:13:48 +0000

This is just like Saturday morning cartoons. I
haven’t been able to stop laughing since I read
about her. Let me say up front that I am an old
person. I am one of the few people who
do not own a cell phone or any other electronic
toy that you talk or text on. What is wrong with
talking to people who are with you? I see people
sitting together and talking or texting, no one
is talking to the people with them. That would
tic me off so bad I’d want to smash the toy. It
is so rude. Put the toys away and talk to the
person with you. You will not miss any life
changing event and you just might avoid falling
into an open hole or getting ran over by a car.

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:55:29 +0000

I totally agree. People have gone completely nuts
with electronic toys. When you are talking on a
phone, texting or playing games you are not aware of your surroundings. So you walk out in
traffic, smash your face on light poles (as some
guy recently did) or fall into open holes. Sure,
it shouldn’t have been open but if she had been
watching where she was going instead of looking
at a phone it wouldn’t have happened. People that dumb shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce. Now her family wants to sue, give me a break.
When you do dumb s*&t you run the risk of being hurt. She needs to learn that.

By: soundsreal

soundsreal — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:22:20 +0000

No, not enough said. The frivolity of her lawsuit as a clear defence mechanism against the embarrassment of admitting her own stupidity is a symptom of a disturbing mental trend. She should not be allowed to mix with the general public pending intensive psychiatric assessment.

By: soundsreal

soundsreal — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:17:51 +0000

We agree with cruddycat wholeheartedly. Enough said.

By: cruddycat@gmail.com

cruddycat@gmail.com — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:32:56 +0000

this girl is a pinhead and moron. too bad she survived, she will probably breed and dilute the gene pool even more. whatever happened to the legal concept of the “reasonable man” who takes responsibly for their actions.

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:30:36 +0000

But then the dog will fall down the hole. Do you hate dogs? Dog hater!

By: john

john — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:54:39 +0000

If you’re eyesight is so bad that you can’t see a manhole opening right in front of you then maybe you need a guide dog….

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:15:15 +0000

This really is not stupid at all — an open manhole would be very difficult to see in your peripheral vision — all you see is a dark circle on the ground. For that reason, utility workers are REQUIRED to cordon off manholes BEFORE they open them, especially if they are in the middle of a walkway. This is not even a case. The util workers are blatantly wrong. I hope she wins and teaches them that this what they did is unacceptable — if an 80 year old woman walked in there instead of a young healthy 15 year old with malleable bones they could have had a fatality on their hands. Leaving a manhole open in a walkway with no markings is criminal negligence, end of story.

By: Miles

Miles — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:31:51 +0000

He’s probably got one of those first gen GPS’s that are SOOOooo 20′th century.

By: -M-

-M- — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:24:56 +0000

So that open manhoole was only available to fall into if you were walking a twisted path, not a straight line? ROFL you’re hilarious bub.