UPPER EAST SIDE (WABC) — Five people were seen climbing out of a sewer on the Upper East Side early Friday morning before driving away in a black SUV, adding to a series of recent incidents involving people entering the city’s sewers.
The four men and one woman were spotted emerging from a manhole on East 82nd Street around 2 a.m. Friday.
Police responded with the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. They pulled out two shovels and two other tools.
Eileen Foley, who has lived in the neighborhood for 38 years, said the incident raised concerns about what the group might have been doing.
“It’s scary because you don’t know what they’re up to. Is it some kind of danger that can happen to the neighborhood or the city?” Foley said.
The incident follows other recent cases involving people entering New York City sewers.
In late September, two men were arrested after telling detectives they entered a sewer around 4:30 a.m. on East 61st Street to look for valuables.
The suspects were identified as Kevin Rodriguez, 25, and Samuel Reveron, 25, both of Queens. They were charged with trespass and conspiracy.
They told detectives they entered the manhole together to look for the valuables that get washed away in the storm drains and sewers.
That same week, three people were seen climbing out of a sewer in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Crews pulled a shovel from that manhole.
For longtime Upper East Side residents, Friday’s sight was another unusual New York story, but one that hit particularly close to home.
“I didn’t think they’d be doing it at my front door,” Foley said.
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