Complaints for open manholes dramatically doubled in NYC before Donike Gocaj died in hatch horror

Complaints about open manholes – such as the uncovered Con Edison hatch that Westchester mom Donike Gocaj fatally plunged into this week – have nearly doubled so far this year across the Big Apple, public data shows.

A whopping 714 calls were made citywide to 311 about a “defective manhole cover” or a “missing” cover since Jan. 1, while the same span in 2025 drew just 374 similar complaints, the data shows.

All of last year drew 1,025 total complaints about manhole covers — the most since 2021, according to the 311 stats.

What has led to the dangerous spike was not immediately clear, but personal injury attorney Christopher Gorayeb warned one particular type of increasingly common manhole cover is prone to becoming dislodged.

“The composite manhole covers, such as the one that appears to have been involved in this accident, are much lighter and need to be locked into place,” he said.

“If not, something like a truck or a vehicle going over it can cause it to displace, which appears to be what happened.

A representative for Con Edison said Tuesday that a passing truck appeared to have dislodged the manhole’s cover along East 52nd Street near Fifth Avenue less than 15 minutes before Gocaj arrived Monday night and parked along the avenue.

Gocaj only took a couple steps from her Mercedes-Benz SUV before she fell into the 10-foot-deep hole, eyewitness Carl Wood said.

She hauntingly screamed “I’m dying” as she waited for rescue from the sweltering utility hole, Wood said.

Medics rushed Gocaj to a nearby hospital, where she later died of what the city’s medical examiner ruled Wednesday were scald burns that included inhalational thermal injuries from breathing in hot air or steam and blunt force trauma to her torso.

ConEd crews afterward were spotted putting the manhole cover back into place, affixing it with sealant — a step that Gorayeb said is necessary for newer types of caps.

A constellation of different types of manhole covers dot the streets of New York City, ranging from heavy steel to lighter composite material.

Utilities such as ConEd are shifting to non-conductive composite covers to avoid electrocuting pedestrians, Gorayeb said.

Those covers need locking mechanisms, locking pins or sealant to keep them in place, while older steel ones — which are largely used by New York City itself — are heavy enough that gravity holds them tight, the lawyer said.

“I can’t tell you how much more frequently this is occurring, but it is certainly not uncommon,” Gorayeb said.

The bustling Midtown blocks near where Gocaj fell into the utility hole drew at least six complaints about open hatches in the past year, data shows.

Beyond 311, at least two 911 calls about uncovered manholes near the intersection of East 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue were made in May before Gocaj’s tragic fall.

At least 17 manholes are scattered across those two streets.

A ConEd representative declined to comment on the increase because the utility only operated a fraction of manholes citywide.

The city’s Department of Environmental Protection said there are approximately 400,000 manholes in the five boroughs, not including those of Con Ed and other utilities. The city’s own manholes weigh around 200 pounds and are not easily moved.

“We are constantly on the lookout for dislodged manhole covers, whether it comes from 311, from another agency like [the Department of Transportation] DOT, or by our crews being on the lookout during routine shifts,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement.

Rhonda Roland Shearer, an artist and nonprofit co-founder who called 911 about a dislodged manhole cover on Fifth Avenue during May 3, said news of Gocaj’s death horrified her.

“I said, ‘Oh my God, this in great likelihood the same cover. Or multiple covers in the same area,'” she said.