The family of a Westchester grandmother who died after falling into an open manhole on a midtown Manhattan street is suing Con Edison, claiming that the manhole cover was “inadequately sealed,” court documents reveal.
Donike Gocaj’s relatives claim Con Edison knew the manhole cover on E. 52nd St. near Fifth Ave. could become dislodged and “received prior complaints” regarding the “unsecured, unfastened, defective” manhole cover on the block, according to the wrongful death suit.
Gocaj’s domestic partner, Jashar Kameraj, saw her fall into the manhole and says he suffered burns and other injuries as he tried to pull her out. He is also suing for damages, the lawsuit states.
The 56-year-old grandmother, a resident of Briarcliff Manor in Westchester, had just parked her Mercedes-Benz SUV on the block before stepping out of her vehicle around 11:20 p.m. on May 18 and fell into the open manhole a moment later, cops said.
Kameraj “desperately attempted to rescue” Gocaj by reaching into the manhole and trying to pull her out and “was caused to sustain serious, permanent, and painful personal injuries,” including burns and “inhalation thermal injuries” from breathing in hot steam inside the manhole.
An autopsy revealed Gocaj’s cause of death as a combination of scald burns with inhalational thermal injury and blunt force trauma of the torso.
“It was like she disappeared,” said Carlton Wood, 36, who saw Gocaj fall into the open manhole. “I saw her get out of her car, I seen her take a step forward, and then I didn’t see her anymore.”
Gocaj cried out from within the hole as passersby tried to save her, he recalled.
“I’m dying,” she said, over and over from inside the hole, Wood recalled.
The grandmother fell about 10 feet, police said. Firefighters quickly removed her and EMS rushed her to Cornell Weill Medical Center, where she died, police said.
Con Edison claimed at the time that the manhole cover had been dislodged by a heavy truck that had rolled over it a few minutes earlier.
“We have reviewed video footage from the area which suggests that the cover was dislodged after a multi-axle truck turning onto 52nd Street from 5th Avenue drove over it,” a spokesperson for the utility said. “Approximately 12 minutes later, the person involved in the incident parked her car nearby. We are reviewing the details, and while this is a rare occurrence, manhole covers can get displaced by heavy vehicles.”
But the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court states that the freak accident was caused by the “grossly negligent” and “reckless” actions of Con Edison, which they claim “allowed the (manhole) to be and remain open, uncovered, unguarded, unbarricaded and unprotected” and caused the “severe, horrifying, and catastrophic injuries” Gocaj suffered.
The family also claims Con Edison failed to replace and secure the manhole cover in a timely fashion, according to court documents.
The utility, the lawsuit states, “should have known that dislodged and displaced manhole covers presented a recurring and foreseeable danger to pedestrians.”
A Con Edison spokeswoman said the utility was reviewing the complaint.
“We extend our condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased,” the spokeswoman said. “Because the matter is pending litigation, we cannot comment on specific allegations or legal proceedings.”
The utility will “respond through the appropriate legal process,” the spokeswoman said.
Between Jan. 1 and the time Gocaj died, the city received 717 complaints via its 311 system for “missing” or “defective” manhole covers, a steep jump from 381 complaints in the same time period last year, according to NYC Open Data.
Aside from the covers maintained by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, there are thousands more belonging to Con Edison, National Grid, Verizon and AT&T, among others.
The DEP, which maintains approximately 400,000 manholes throughout the city, said the uptick in complaints, “might be the result of manhole covers being dislodged because of snow plows.”