{"id":238049,"date":"2026-05-20T14:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/238049\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T14:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:58:09","slug":"grandmothers-final-words-revealed-as-she-fell-to-her-death-down-a-dislodged-manhole-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/238049\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandmother\u2019s final words revealed as she fell to her death down a dislodged manhole in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

The final words of the grandmother who fell to her death stepping out of her car in Manhattan <\/a>and falling down a dislodged manhole have been revealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a woman stepping out of her car, and as soon as she stepped out, it’s like she took one step forward and just disappeared,\u201d witness Carlton Wood told ABC7 New York<\/a>. \u200b<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was screaming, ‘I’m dying,’ that’s what I kept hearing her screaming over and over,\u201d Wood said. \u201cShe wasn’t distracted, she didn’t walk onto a construction site, I mean, she parked her car, stepped out of her car and dropped right into the manhole.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n

A person familiar with the matter identified the victim as 56-year-old Donike Gocaj to The Wall Street Journal<\/a>. Around 11:20 p.m. Monday night, Gocaj stepped out of her Mercedes-Benz SUV<\/a> near a Cartier store and fell down the manhole.<\/p>\n

Utility company Con Edison, which operates the manhole, told the publication that a large vehicle passed through the intersection near Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street <\/a>around 12 minutes before the woman parked nearby. \u200b Video footage reviewed by the company showed a multi-axle truck passing over the intersection. According to the firm, the truck\u2019s weight appeared to dislodge the cover.<\/p>\n

\"Donike<\/p>\n

Donike Gocaj plummeted around 10 feet to her death after falling into a manhole in Manhattan Monday evening (Donike Gocaj\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

\u200b\u201cWe are reviewing the details, and while this is a rare occurrence, manhole covers can get displaced by heavy vehicles,\u201d a spokesperson for the company told the newspaper. \u201cOur thoughts remain with her family, and safety remains our top priority.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n

The witness went on to claim that, although first responders arrived within minutes, it took about 20 minutes to get her out of the hole.\u200b<\/p>\n

Wood told The New York Post <\/a>that one man tried to let himself down so that she could grab his legs in order to pull himself up. Another man brought over a ladder that was too short to reach her.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Gocaj appeared to be in a \u201cpuddle of water,\u201d wood claimed.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An eyewitness said that he heard the 56-year-old woman screaming \u2018I\u2019m dying\u2019 after falling down the hole (CBS News)<\/p>\n

\u201cLike maybe steaming hot water,\u201d Wood said. \u201cSo I\u2019m not sure, but I\u2019m assuming maybe she was burning up down there. Bad air down there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gocaj was rushed to New York-Presbyterian\/Weill Cornell Medical Center<\/a>, where she was pronounced dead. \u200bHer loved ones described her to ABC7 New York as a loving mother to a son and daughter and a loving grandmother to two grandchildren.\u200b<\/p>\n

\u201cOur condolences are with the family of the woman who lost her life in this devastating incident,\u201d the New York City Mayor\u2019s Office said in a statement obtained by ABC7 New York. \u201cCity agencies are working with Con Ed to support the emergency response and conduct a full investigation into what occurred. \u200b<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery question must be asked and answered so that no New Yorker experiences a tragedy like this again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Independent has contacted Con Edison for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The final words of the grandmother who fell to her death stepping out of her car in Manhattan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93031,92857,1168,92851,93032,9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-238049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-abc7-new-york","tag-carlton-wood","tag-con-edison","tag-donike-gocaj","tag-manhole-covers","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}