New York police investigate late-night sewer incursions

New York City police are investigating a string of late-night sewer incursions after groups of people were seen entering and emerging from manholes in Queens and Brooklyn, prompting city officials to warn that the underground system is illegal and dangerous for the public to enter.

There have been at least three documented incidents since May 5, with no reported injuries or arrests, officials said. It remains unclear whether the episodes are connected.

“Entering the sewer system is both illegal and extremely dangerous,” a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection said Tuesday. “Sewers can contain numerous hazards, including noxious and potentially deadly gases, unstable surfaces, flooding risks, and confined spaces. For these reasons, members of the public should never enter a pipe, drain, catch basin, manhole, or outfall.”

The investigation follows the circulation of social media videos showing people climbing out of sewer systems in the middle of the night. The New York Police Department said it sent Emergency Services Unit officers underground to determine whether the incidents posed a threat.

“The NYPD, to make sure there was not a threat to the public, sent their highly trained Emergency Services Unit officers into the sewer system to make sure nothing nefarious had been left behind by the individuals – nothing was found,” the department told NBC in a statement Monday. “And the city Environmental Protection Department, which manages the system, also went in and apparently found no damage to the sewer system equipment.”

One of the first reported incidents happened around 2 a.m. on May 5 near 20th Avenue and 36th Street in Astoria, Queens. Auto repair shop owner Aki Jakupovic said he was working at the time when he saw several men open a maintenance hole cover and descend underground.

“Three random guys walking around in a strange suit, open the sewer, go in like Ninja Turtles,” Jakupovic told NBC New York.

Surveillance footage obtained by NBC New York showed the men carrying flashlights and wearing hip waders. Jakupovic said he and his staff called 911 and moved customers’ cars parked outside into the garage.

“I knew they were up to no good,” he told NBC News. “They just looked up, look down and continued like I wasn’t there. You know, I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff in New York, but this was really something.”

Jakupovic said responding officers advised him not to confront anyone entering the sewer system and to call police instead. “The cop was like, ‘Don’t act like Batman, like you’re not Batman, just call the cops,’” he said. “Like, yeah, that’s what we did.”

Two more incidents were reported last week in Brooklyn. NBC New York reported that police were called around 11 p.m. Thursday after a witness saw eight people remove a maintenance hole cover near McDonald Avenue and Colin Place in Gravesend. The NYPD said the group emerged roughly three hours later. Social media video showed eight people climbing out and changing clothes beside parked cars.

About two hours after the Gravesend report, police received another call about several people entering a maintenance hole near Heyward Street and Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. Authorities said the group resurfaced more than two and a half hours later before getting into a car and driving away, NBC New York reported. Video obtained by Williamsburg 365 showed seven people climbing out, with the last person closing the cover behind them.

A senior law enforcement official told NBC News that investigators are considering a theory that the group is “scouring the system for valuables that get into the sewage.” Officials said unauthorized sewer entry could be a crime, though they have reported no evidence of a public health threat.

“We need to know who they were, what they were up to,” said John Monaghan, a law enforcement analyst and retired NYPD captain. “They could be electrocuted, they could be overcome, there’s gas lines down there, there’s electrical lines down there.”