As if we needed more proof that text messaging should not be done while you're doing anything else, this gem of a story has made its way to the InterWebs from Staten Island, aka NYC's fifth boro.
15 year-old Alexa Longueira fell "four or five feet" into an open manhole on Victory Boulevard while attempting to send a text message, according to MSNBC. Crews were flushing out a sewer line and "had turned away briefly to grab some cones when the incident occurred," according to the Department of Environmental Protection - though perhaps a twitter alert would have done more to reach Longueira, who apparently had her head buried in her phone (sadly, we don't yet know what kind of cellie she was rocking at the time). The girl was checked out and released by Staten Island University Hospital, suffering some scrapes but nothing worse, according to reports.
The family has said they will sue the city, perhaps to recover one of the girl's sneakers, which is still down in the hole. Kim Longueira, the "victim's" mother, said that "it doesn't matter that her daughter was walking and texting" and that the manhole "was putrid." I'm very glad that the girl is okay. I also think the Mom should knock it off. Yes, the DEP should have blocked the open manhole cover off as soon as they opened it up, but come on ... if you walk into an open manhole because you're too busy writing a text to notice the hole in the sidewalk, I think you lose your right to sue. But, hey, I'm not a judge.
via Gizmodo
