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Teenager Falls Down Manhole While Texting and Walking
Numerous states have already implemented bans on texting while driving, but text-related injuries and deaths definitely aren't limited to the vehicular variety. In 2008, Illinois proposed legislation that would make texting and walking illegal, and now, as textual mishaps mount among pedestrians, those who ridiculed the idea may need to reconsider their stance.
The most recent walking-texting victim, 15-year-old Alexa Longueira of Staten Island, was happily (and obliviously) thumbing away when, in classic Looney Toons style, she disappeared into an open man hole cover. According to SILive.com, the teenager fell five feet, scraping her back and arms, before landing in a pile of muck.
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) workers said they left the hole unattended only while they were obtaining cones and markers with which to barricade it. DEP spokeswoman Mercedes Padilla said that the organization regrets the unfortunate incident, and that they hope Longueira fully and swiftly recovers. The Longueira family, of course, plan to pursue legal recourse.
If that doesn't satiate your thirst for texting failure, or if you just love slapstick and think bodily harm is hilarious, check out the Switched text-messaging Hall of Shame. [From: SILive.com]
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Comments
43
Subscribe to commentsHopeJul 12th 2009 4:15PM
What a stupid girl and stupid family ???? Family plans to sue because their daughter was oblivious and stupid enough to continue to text while walking and not paying attention to her surrounding !!!!!!!!! The family should be thankful she is alive. Somebody please explain to me what the hell is so important in stupid people's lives that they cannot stop talking or texting while walking and driving and thereby putting not only their own stupid lives in dangers but other people surrounding them ?????????????????????
NormanJul 15th 2009 2:50PM
I agree with you. I do not even have a cell phone these days used to have one for about 20 years and I do not even miss it. Do not need to talk to someone that much. This girl should have been paying attention where she was and going instead of using a phone to text someone or call someone without knowing what lay ahead.
JoJul 15th 2009 2:51PM
Let's see. Even if the cones had been up, since she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, she's going to have to prove that she would have seen the cones. I truly hope the utilities company does NOT settle this case, and puts the parents to their proof.
KatJul 12th 2009 5:23PM
i dont think the girl is stupid. i mean really who doesn't walk and talk or text???? walking and talking or texting is no different then walking down the street with a friend or your parents and talking to them same thing. now i see no point in driving and texting but walking really?? thats just stupid.
NORMA C.Jul 15th 2009 2:51PM
stupid
FrankietpsJan 16th 2011 4:57PM
@Kat
That girl is stupid because she was not paying attention at all. I text while walking but I also look up constantly and Choose a direction to walk to make sure I don't run into anyone or anything.
chuckiespeaksJul 12th 2009 5:22PM
thats insane, she should win a leg battle, someone should have stayed with the hole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyCvWE8Edpw
AngelaJul 12th 2009 5:24PM
I'll bet his next text was to a lawyer.
AngelaJul 12th 2009 5:29PM
Legal action for what? The kid scraped her back and arms. A good wash and some neosporin and she's good as new... still stupid, but good as new.
ThirteenthTitanJul 12th 2009 5:42PM
I think they're right to sue, and here's my argument why:
THE IDIOTS LEFT THE MANHOLE UNATTENDED.
What if someone's 3 year old had broke away from their parents and run that direction and didn't see the hole and fell into it?
What if a blind person (like the gentleman who died from the elevator shaft fall) had fallen into it?
If NO ONE was standing there at the manhole then someone should've put the damn cover back on don't you think? Common sense wise not everyone has time to look at the ground while they're rushing to and from unfortunately she was texting when it occurred but it could've just as easily been any other distracted behavior that landed her or anyone else in that situation.
The city is at fault for leaving a dangerous thing like that man hole open, she's lucky it was only a 5 foot drop it could've been a lot deeper and to think of all the garbage down there what if she fell and landed on a hyperdermic needle and got aids and what ever other diseases from the fall? Then would you still call her stupid?
Accidents happen. Now as for the lawsuit before ya score me...
I don't think it should exceed $500. Which would replace the phone that was ruined, any clothing, and any minor medicine she needs to be taking after being exposed to sludge/sewage/muck. This is just my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I laughed a little to myself that she fell in because I knew she was alright but it wasn't smart of those workers to leave the manhole open, again, they should've covered it up THEN got the cones before opening it and this would've never happened.
pburnett5Jul 13th 2009 10:29AM
It's doubtful that even a 3 yr. old would have stepped into that open manhole. And she may have gotten aids, but she still wouldn't have been any smarter. If you are walking down the street you don't have your eyes focussed on your friends to be oblivious to your surroundings. She was in NY for God's sake, she could have been easily killed or murdered. If I were her parent I would be looking to my child's little learning experience and chalk it up to that. A little humiliation will probably do her a lot of good. Doesn't seem like any of them learned a thing. But, I agree that it wouldn't have taken but another minute to put the cover back in place since they didn't have the manpower to leave someone at the hole or run tape. She wasn't hurt, just embarrassed. Tough @#%!. That's life, get over it.
HellsbellboyJul 12th 2009 6:34PM
It would have been one thing if she was blind or 3 years old, it's another thing when you fall into a open manhole because you were not paying attention to your surroundings. If you're going to be walking and texting you need to take responsibility for your actions. If she would have walked in front of a car would that have been the drivers fault? She was negligent by walking around and not paying the slightest attention to where she was walking.
mesamanJul 12th 2009 9:17PM
Alxa r u dn fllng? Peeps r tlkg hw dum u r. i gree. wtch 4 rats.
redhead beautiful chicaJul 12th 2009 11:14PM
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HILARIOUS I AM SORRY BUT THE DAMN CELL FONES ARE TOO MUCH I JUST EXPLODE LAUGHIN WITH MY AMIGA HERE TONITE SORRY JUST FUNNY TRY TO ENVISION HIM OR HER FALLIN LIKE THAT ESTUPIDA...
ADIOS. LMFAO
iphonerulezJul 12th 2009 11:32PM
Think of the humiliation of falling down in all that muck and she probably ruined her clothes. I think that should be worth a least a couple of million bucks when she wins her lawsuit.
tsgtfarfanJul 12th 2009 11:37PM
This one is a good legal question, the manhole WAS left unprotected, and the geek WAS walking without paying attention. If the geek stepped in front of a bus or some blue hair on her way to the salon the fault would be plainly the geeks. If you open a hole in the sidewalk you need to take precautions. We have laws to protect idiots from their own stupidity.
KylaJul 15th 2009 2:36PM
That's why we have so many idiots. Time to let Darwinian natural selection start thinning the herd and skimming the gene pool. Protecting stupid people from their stupidity just encourages them.
PeopleAreMeanJul 13th 2009 2:22AM
"She literally just handed me the phone and I opened it [and] I felt this big drop," the Susan E. Wagner High School sophomore said.
Okay people, do the kid a solid and stop making her out to be some no brained 15 year old. Hmmm I bet if it were you or one of your own...you people would be singing a different tune...
JayyyJul 13th 2009 8:11AM
This not only test the limits of true insanity, but goes to show how much the cell phone has dominated and controlled out lives. The technology was a great idea at the time but it is fast becoming a leading cause of death because people can't control their urges and impulses to talk and or text while driving and now in this case , walking. All this girl will have is a bruised ego, and she will brush herself off and be back to texting in no time. If she falls this easily into a trance walking brainless around a manhole, just imagine what damage could be done if she is walking around railroad tracks.
KatieJul 13th 2009 9:11AM
I bet she was also chewing gum.......