Overview
- Surveillance footage shows groups leaving manholes in Gravesend/Flatbush and Williamsburg after hours underground, with the Gravesend group seen emerging around 2:05 a.m. on Friday.
- NYPD officers and the Emergency Services Unit swept the sites and have opened an active investigation but have not made any arrests and have not identified the people involved.
- The New York City Department of Environmental Protection inspected the Gravesend location and reported no damage to the sewer infrastructure and no lingering hazards.
- Local reporting quoted police saying the groups may have been searching for lost jewelry, but that motive is limitedly sourced and social-media claims that a body was found were denied by the NYPD.
- The incidents have raised community alarm, coming after a recent fatal manhole fall in Manhattan, and could prompt stepped-up patrols, infrastructure checks, and public warnings about the dangers of entering sewers.