Overview
- Surveillance and social-media videos show at least three separate incidents in which groups of about six to eight people entered and later emerged from manholes in Brooklyn and Queens, with footage tied to events on May 28–29 and an earlier May 5 report.
- The NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit and the Department of Environmental Protection conducted underground inspections and reported no suspicious materials, no damage to sewer infrastructure, no injuries and no arrests so far.
- Police say investigators are pursuing a leading theory that the entrants were scouring tunnels for lost or discarded valuables, a conclusion informed by the entrants’ gear such as headlamps, waders and shovels and by past similar probes.
- The DEP warned that entering sewers is illegal and extremely dangerous because of toxic gases, unstable surfaces, flood risk and confined spaces, and the recent, unrelated fatal manhole fall in Manhattan has intensified public concern.
- Authorities keep the probe open with the NYPD Intelligence Division involved, and the incidents could prompt stepped-up patrols, public warnings and potential charges if the individuals are identified, as past cases have produced arrests.