NYPD probes fresh video of people climbing out of Manhattan manhole
New York police are investigating a new video showing three people emerging from a Manhattan manhole, months after similar incidents were found to pose no threat to the public.
A TikTok video posted Friday shows three people in overalls and what appeared to be headlamps emerging from a manhole at 32nd Street and 7th Avenue near Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. The incident occurred after 4 a.m. on Aug. 18, according to the person who posted the video.
The NYPD said it was aware of the video. “There are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing.”
Videos of men emerging from manholes around the city circulated in May. It remains unclear whether the Aug. 18 incident is connected, though both groups wore protective clothing and what appeared to be headlamps.
In one May incident, a man in a white shirt and shorts lifted a manhole cover in Brooklyn around 2 a.m., allowing seven men to emerge from the sewers and change clothes near McDonald and Bedford avenues. Hours later, another video showed seven men emerging into traffic near Heyward Street and Bedford Avenue, with at least three carrying shovels.
A senior law enforcement official said the leading theory was that they were scavenging for valuables. Police later said an investigation found no immediate threat to the public and no damage to the sewer system.
In June, the NYPD said its highly trained Emergency Services Unit entered the sewer system to ensure nothing nefarious had been left behind, but found nothing.
