NYC is looking into complaints of defective or missing manhole covers, the problem that led to the tragic death of 56-year-old Donike Gocaj in Midtown Manhattan, as data shows they’ve nearly doubled across the five boroughs this year, data reviewed by the News shows.
Since Jan. 1 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.
The city Department of Environmental Protection, which maintains many of the city’s manhole covers, said they were looking into the complaints on Thursday. The mayor’s office and Con Edison did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gocaj, of Briarcliff Manor in Westchester, had just parked her Mercedes-Benz SUV on E. 52nd St. near the corner of Fifth Ave. before stepping out of her vehicle around 11:20 p.m. on Monday and into the open manhole a moment later, cops said. 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.
The manhole that Gocaj fell into, appears to have been dislodged by a heavy truck rolling over it, Con Edison previously said in a statement, adding that they were still investigating.
“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.”
Con Edison covered the hole as they continued the probe how the hole was left open and unprotected.
Since the beginning of the year, four complaints have been made for “missing” or “defective” manhole covers near the site of Gocaj’s tragic death. On April 29 a complaint was made for a “manhole cover missing” on 5th Ave. near W. 51st St. just around the corner from the scene. The complaint was closed, records show.
Carlton Wood, 36, was on his way to work when he saw Gocaj fall.
“It was like she disappeared,” said Wood. “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.
“I’m dying,” she said, over and over from inside the hole, Wood recalled.
She fell about 10 feet, police said. Firefighters quickly removed her and EMS rushed her to Cornell Weill Medical Center, where she died, police said.