Report coming on boy’s fall into sewer
BALLSTON SPA >> Saratoga County officials, on Tuesday or Wednesday, are expected to issue a report explaining how a boy fell into an open manhole and took a terrifying ride through a dark fast-moving sewer before sheriff’s deputies rescued him a halfmile away.
The 14-year-old and two friends were on bicycles and playing in a wooded area along the Zim Smith Trail when the incident occurred on Saturday, April 8.
Deputies found the boy, about 20 minutes later, screaming and clinging to metal steps inside the sewer line, roughly three-feet in diameter, at Curtis Industrial Park.
“There are two investigations going on, one initiated by the sheriff’s department and another internal one by the county regarding management of the site by the contractor,” county Administrator Spencer Hellwig said Monday.
The county hired St. Louisbased Insituform Technologies, LLC, a global firm specializing in pipeline restorations, to rehabili-
tate the decades old 30-mile sewer line that runs from northern Saratoga County to Halfmoon. However, work was being carried out by a subcontractor, Albanybased Gannon Construction Services.
Officials at Gannon did not return a phone call seeking comment.
The latest work, costing more than $1.1 million, began March 20 and is Phase VI of the multi-year project.
Hellwig said work has been put on hold pending a thorough review of the incident and procedures that were or weren’t followed, which might have contributed to it.
“We’re focused on how it occurred and making sure these circumstances don’t repeat themselves,” he said.
The line is maintained by Saratoga County Sewer District, a part of county government, managed by the Saratoga County Sewer Commission.
Hellwig said commission members would be briefed before the county releases its report.
The boy’s friends called 911 when the accident occurred.
Sgt. James Leonard and
several other deputies responded to the scene near Underpass Road. The sewer runs in a straight line, allowing deputies to follow it in hopes of locating the boy. The line goes under Route 67 to Curtis Industrial Park where he was found. “Deputies heard him yelling,” Hellwig said.
Officers pulled the heavy cover off another manhole and found the boy clinging to metal steps he managed to grab hold of while awaiting help, said Lt. Jeff Brown of the sheriff’s office. The boy suffered a few bumps and bruises and was taken to Saratoga Hospital where he was treated and released.