New York police are investigating a new video of three people emerging from a manhole in Manhattan, months after similar incidents were deemed to pose no threat to the public.
A video posted to TikTok on Friday showed three people in overalls, wearing what appeared to be headlamps, emerging from a manhole at 32nd St and 7th Avenue, near Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. The incident happened after 4 a.m. on Aug. 18, the person who posted the video told NBC News.
A spokesperson for the New York Police Department said the agency was aware of the video.
“There are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing,” police said.
An inspection of the sewers in the area of the incident found that there was no damage to the infrastructure, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection confirmed in a statement Sunday. It stressed entering the sewers is “both illegal and extremely dangerous.”
“Sewers can contain numerous hazards, including noxious and potentially deadly gases, unstable surfaces, flooding risks, and confined spaces,” the statement said. “For these reasons, members of the public should never enter a pipe, drain, catch basin, manhole, or outfall.”
Videos of men coming out of manholes in various parts of the city circulated online in May. It’s unclear whether the Aug. 18 incident is connected to those from earlier this year, though the individuals were dressed similarly — both groups wore protective clothing and what appeared to be headlamps.
In one May incident, a man in a white shirt and shorts was seen lifting a manhole cover at 2 a.m. in Brooklyn, allowing seven men to climb out of the sewers and change into different clothes near McDonald and Bedford avenues.
Hours later, another video showed seven men emerging from a manhole into a street with active traffic near Heyward Street and Bedford Avenue; at least three were carrying shovels.
A senior law enforcement official told NBC News at the time that the leading theory was that the individuals were scavenging for valuables. Police said an investigation found no immediate threat to the public and no damage to the sewer system.
“The NYPD, to make sure there was not a threat to the public, sent their highly trained Emergency Services Unit officers into the sewer system to make sure nothing nefarious had been left behind by the individuals — nothing was found,” police said in June.
