Boy Falls Down Uncover Manhole, Family Wants Answers

From KOAT-TV.com - A 5-year-old Albuquerque boy is out of the hospital after plunging down into an open manhole. (structure looks like on left only buried to street level) He and his family were walking down Lead Avenue over the weekend when the boy fell in. Action 7 News talked to the family and the city, to find out why the manhole wasn't covered. The family asked us not to identify them. The construction project has been ongoing for a year, but the family had no idea there was an uncovered manhole until it was too late. The mom asked, "How could it happen that something could be blatantly left open like that?" The family was walking down Lead when they say they noticed a rise in the road. Their son was running ahead. "It was the worst possible thing, he disappeared in this hole we went running, we were only a few feet behind him, he was gone," said the boy's mom. Without thinking, his father said he jumped in after him. "He was under water when I jumped in and I went down again, and when I saw him go down under I just reached under water," the boy's father said. The father was able to pull his son out. Police responded to the scene and found a second manhole uncovered. Both the boy and the father were treated and released from the hospital. The boy appears to be fine but his father suffered some injuries when he jumped in. Read more

Boy Falls Down Uncover Manhole, Family Wants Answers