N.Y. grate collapse nearly kills woman

Published: May 18, 2007 at 4:24 PM
Order reprints
NEW YORK, May 18 (UPI) -- A woman in New York was injured after a sidewalk grate she was walking on collapsed, dropping her next to a hazardous electrical unit.

The New York Post said that 26-year-old Jessica Hinksmon was injured Thursday after falling 15 feet into a muddy pit where there was a 13,000-volt electrical transformer box.

Hinksmon was rescued by firefighters but the incident left the grate's manufacturer with plenty to account for, the Post said.

A spokesman for the company, Con Edison, said the steel-mesh grates are quite prevalent in New York and typically are extremely safe.

"You can't lift one of these things with your bare hands. It's very heavy," spokesman Alfonso Quiroz told the newspaper. "They are very safe and there are thousands of them around the city."

A Con Edison site was the location for another fall nearly a month ago. The Post said a 64-year-old man died after falling into a pit where another transformer was being replaced.


© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



Croatia leads U.S. 2-0 at Davis Cup tennis (6 min)
MLB: St. Louis 8, Chicago Cubs 3 (17 min)
Report: Bailout funds could help small biz (44 min)
Werth named NL All-Star for Beltran (45 min)
Home sales rise in Baltimore area (49 min)
Lawsuit filed in cemetery desecration (52 min)
Canadian PM apologizes at G8 for blunder
fark
Patronizing Tijuana hookers while on drugs may be unhealthy, according to Dr. N.S. Sherlock, of...
Defense lawyers request words like "polygamy,""cult" and "compound" not be used in their client's...
TSG Mugshot roundup: Twin billing
Barbie-Con visitors split on major issue: Are you allowed to open her box and play with it?
It's been 10 years since "The Blair Witch Project." Where were you when this crappy, one-joke, overhyped...
While serious people debate health care, CNN does interview with morons from West Virgina who ignored...