Westchester woman, 56, falls down manhole and dies moments after parking her Mercedes outside Cartier store on NYC's Fifth Avenue

By JAMES CIRRONE, US NEWS REPORTER Published: 15:17, 19 May 2026 | Updated: 15:22, 19 May 2026 A 56-year-old woman from Westchester died after stepping out of her parked car in Manhattan and falling into an uncovered manhole. On Monday at around 11:19pm, the woman parked her Mercedes-Benz SUV near the Cartier Fifth Avenue Mansion on East 52nd Street.  Officials told the New York Post that she fell about 10 feet immediately after getting out of her vehicle. The NYPD responded to the scene and said the woman was unconscious and unresponsive at the bottom of the manhole.  After an EMS team got her out, she was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner will determine her cause of death. Police have made no arrests in connection to this incident, but they have opened an investigation. Authorities are withholding the victim's name until her family can be properly notified.  Con Edison, which maintains the tens of thousands of manholes in the city, said it is investigating why the manhole the woman fell into was open. A 56-year-old Westchester woman fell into this manhole on Monday night. It was uncovered at the time and she stepped out of her parked Mercedes-Benz SUV right into the hole. She was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead The manhole was located right out in front of the Cartier Mansion, which is on East 52nd Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan 'We are deeply saddened to confirm that a member of the public has died after falling into an open manhole. We are actively investigating how this occurred,' a Con Edison spokesperson said. 'Our thoughts are with the individual's family, and safety remains our top priority.' City regulations mandate that any uncovered openings on the street need to be barricaded and clearly marked with flags, lights or signs.  It's unclear if the open manhole was announced or if it had any fencing around it. It's also unclear if work was going on at the time the woman fell. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.