We all know that walking and texting is a tough combination — but a Staten Island teen learned the hard way when she fell into an uncovered sewer manhole while trying to send a message.
Now, the family of Alexa Longueira, 15, intends to sue.
The girl suffered a fright and some scrapes on her arms back after she dropped into the hole on Victory Boulevard.
“It was four or five feet, it was very painful. I kind of crawled out and the DEP guys came running and helped me,” Longueria told the Staten Island Advance.. “They were just, like, ‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
For its part, the Department of Environmental Protection said its workers had turned away briefly to grab some cones when the incident occurred.
“We regret that this happened and wish the young woman a speedy recovery,” DEP spokeswoman Mercedes Padilla said in a statement. She added that crews were flushing a high-pressure sewer line at the time.
The girl was checked out at Staten Island University Hospital and released.
Sewer line workers are supposed to cut off pedestrian access to work sites or at least mark them with warning signs.
The family said they will file a lawsuit — for what, though, is not immediately clear. Her mother, Kim Longueira, said it doesn’t matter that her daughter was walking and texting, and also, the ‘gross’ factor that can’t be ignored.
“Oh my God, it was putrid,” she said. “One of her sneakers is still down there”
Via MSNBC
It just goes to show you that, when multitasking people get more stupid. Also that is why you sit or stand when sending or reading text messages, this and a lot more worse things can happen.
You know its funny, there are alot of disabled blind people out there, that would love a pair healthy seeing eyes, just so they could get around with out assistance of people and animals. And yet this teen and her mother think eyes are made for texting and not paying attention to thier surroundings. They feel they are entitled, to money because her daughter is not using her primary senses in the way they should be used. Why are stupid people being rewarded for thier own stupidity. Her mother should be thankful her daughter wasnt hit by a car or a bus because shes so busy texting. Maybe if this was a good mother and not so interested on how much she can now leech from society for her daughter`s stupidity, she would have a good long talk with her daughter about paying attention. What if her daughter had stepped on a small child because of texting. What happens when this oblivious and self entitled teen starts driving and texting at the same time. There is no lesson being learnt here, only a grab for societies money