A pregnant mom is bruised, sore and walking with a limp after she said she fell into a manhole on Cleveland's west side Sunday.
Lakayla Garvin was just finishing up house-hunting in the 3300 block of W. 43rd St. with her boyfriend and their 3-year-old son when she said she stepped onto the circular manhole to get to their car.
"It was there, it looked secure, but it wasn't secure at all," Garvin said. "My left leg went directly in, I hit my stomach, I hit my knee."
What's even scarier is that Garvin is 11 weeks pregnant.
So her boyfriend Tim King rushed her to the hospital, where after hours of tests, doctors determined the baby is doing just fine. Garvin has a sprained knee.
"I just thank God because it could have been worse," King said. "My son was next to us, he could have went down in there because he's a lot smaller than her, or another child in the neighborhood."
Garvin and King said the water meter did not have a bolt on it when she fell through.
The pair immediately called 911 and after they were assured the baby was fine at the hospital, they went back to file a police report.
Garvin said when they went back to the scene with an officer, the manhole was covered and bolted.
But who did that -- is still a mystery.
The Water Pollution Control Department told newsnet5.com that an inspector was called out to the area Sunday afternoon and did not find anything out of place.
However, the manhole belongs to the Cleveland Water Department.
Spokeswoman Paula Morrison said they were never notified of the damaged cover and call logs show they did not respond to the area until after we reached out on Monday afternoon.
Morrison said they are working to track down who replaced the cover after the fall.
People should report missing or damaged Cleveland water meter covers to 216-664-3060.
