Comments on: Manhole swallows teen texter

A 15-year-old in Staten Island is so busy texting that she doesn't see a manhole and falls into it. According to a report, her parents intend to sue.

[peterwhite]

In this day and age I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this was an all elaborate plot on the part of the workers and texter's family to sue the DEP. Think of it this way, it'd be a little tough to step into the hole and not manage to throw your arms out to sort of hang onto the side or slip one leg in, the other helping you cling prone to the hole??? After all, if that happened to you wouldn't you be deathly afraid of the hole being considerably higher than just 4 or 5 feet. Pardon the pun but this smells like a dirty plot.

[odubtaig]

Because everyone has supeerhuman reflexes of course. I'm guessing from your comment that you've never been in a similar situation because if you had, you'd realise that this sort of thing happens so fast that by the time you realise what's happening, it's over.

Case in point: about 8 years ago a friend of mine, on a night out, is climbing over a fence, he tries to jump down but gets caught on a railing. I swear to this day that gravity alone could not account for the speed with which his face hit the pavement. He now has a false tooth.

I've also had accidents which happened too fast for me to react. Ever got something caught in the handlebars of a bike? 13 years ago and that's still the reason I consider any cyclist not wearing a helmet to be a complete moron because I was wearing one and I still needed new glasses afterwards. Sure, I tried to put my hand out, that's why I got a broken wrist.

[Josh BSN]

who would they sue if she walked off a cliff?

[ryanw19]

Who is DEPA? The girl she was walking with?

[keaura]

I would have laughed my a** off had I seen that. No sympathy here. I hope the judge throws the case out.

[Dan7637]

this is her stupid fault , uh too many retarded people who sue when its primarily their fault

[carbine68]

Oh man that would have been funny to see. I have, on a couple of occasions, ran into signs either texting or surfing the web on my phone and I feel off of a high sidewalk once and fell over. LOL!

[Sporlo]

What an idiot. I don't care if the manhole wasn't marked or blocked or anything, you shouldn't be that absorbed in your phone that you actually fall into one. If she's suing for that, does that mean I can sue the people who put a handicap sign too close to the sidewalk I was running on? (yeah I was looking the other way and my shoulder got scraped pretty bad by the corner). Seriously, it's your own fault people, take some responsibility.