My Hometown...

Manhole kills man

Dove in for Canadian Tire money

Lauran Sabourin, CHCH News

Published: Tuesday, February 26, 2008

A Welland man has died in a freak accident.
He fell down a sewer Tuesday morning, trying to retrieve money he accidentally dropped through the grate.
Paramedics frantically attempted CPR on the victim, a middle aged man more than 250 pounds who became trapped head first in a sewer outside the Kimono restaurant on Niagara Street. His head was in water about four feet down.
The rescue crew's only option was to pull him out using a tow truck.
"They hooked him up, they put a safety harness on him, they got his feet out because he fell in head-first, we pulled him out nice and slow" Mike St Amand/pulled victim out
Ron Beauparlant saw the man bent over the manhole cover this morning, but he thought he was a member of a work crew:
"About half-hour, 45 minutes later, I see all these trucks and ambulances and I says, oh the guy obviously fell in."
The big question: why did the victim use a crowbar to wedge the cover off the manhole?
The victim had accidently dropped some Canadian Tire money and some change down the sewer. He lifted up the manhole cover and bent down in an attempt to retreive it.
The victim was not conscious when they pulled him out. They worked on him in the back of the ambulance but it was futile.
The area is cordoned off while police continue their investigation.

Um, oh. I'm serious. That actually happened in Welland today.
The article's headline... too soon?