A woman walking down a New Jersey street glanced down at her phone only a moment before she plunged down a sidewalk opening.
A 67-year-old woman walking down a New Jersey street glanced down at her phone only a moment before she plunged down a sidewalk opening and into a cellar.
The woman’s son, who was not named, told CBS2 he was grateful his mother survived the fall, but emphasized that it wasn’ t just the distraction of her cellphone that caused the spill. She’s legally blind and diabetic and was checking the time because she was feeling a bit nauseous, he said.
“When I first saw the video, my heart dropped, ” he told the news station. “It was painful to watch.”
Surveillance video sees the woman making her way down the street Thursday afternoon right in front of Acme Windows in Plainfield. Just before she reaches the cellar doors, flung wide open, she pulls out her cellphone and then flips over the door head first and into the basement six feet below.
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Emergency crews responded a little after noon and pulled the woman, who was not identified, out of the basement on a stretcher. Police said she was seriously hurt in the fall, but is now in stable condition.
She had been in town from Florida to visit her son when the tumble occurred, according to CBS2.
Police said the doors were open for gas line repairs.
The woman’s son added she has difficulty seeing “blended colors” and wished the workers had put up cones or some sort of sign.
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Martin Delgadillo was standing outside his barbershop on Somerset St. when the woman plunged into the cellar.
“She was looking at her phone — last minute — she hit the door and fell right in, ” he told NBC New York . “I thought texting and driving was a bad thing — now it’s texting and walking.”
