A recent TikTok gives New Yorkers a reason to be careful as they walk the city’s crumbling sidewalks, offering insight into what’s lurking just inches beneath their feet.
Content creator Casey Neistat, 42, posted a 20 second video of how dangerous the world beneath a New York City street can be.
As he steps on a rotting section of sidewalk, he gives the rubble a push and it immediately collapses, revealing a whole world of rocks and old, rusty pipes dripping with water.
One TikTok user called that particular spot, “A lawsuit mentioning someone’s name.”
Many commenters also discussed the dangers, but some pointed out the potential “benefits” of sidewalks falling apart without warning.
Casey Neistat is known for his TikToks. He has posted several videos in New York City and currently has over 774,000 followers
Casey Neistat’s TikTok has been viewed more than 17 million times since the clip was posted on September 12
People on TikTok have voiced their opinions on the video – with many pointing out the dangers and potential ‘benefits’ of possible harm
One commented: ‘Bro here is wasting injury lawsuits.’
Others were quick to agree; one of them was a lawyer from Australia.
“Aussie insurance lawyer here: that would make someone in any other country a millionaire,” he said.
Another stated: “I would have fallen for that and demanded a trillion.”
Some commenters even suggested that Casey would be the one to fall under the sidewalk and see what would happen to his injuries.
One person said: ‘ahhh man should have stepped up and gotten paid.’
However, suing the city of New York is not as easy as TikTok users might expect, and could even prove impossible without the right evidence.
According to Rosenbaum and Rosenbaum PC, a sidewalk accident victim must prove that those responsible for maintaining the sidewalk must have known or should have known that a dangerous condition existed.
Many people on TikTok have left comments describing the area and have said that falling through the sidewalk hole could earn someone a serious payday
This TikTok was posted just a month after a sidewalk at the Spring Street tube station in Soho began to crumble.
It was discovered that several pieces of concrete were loose enough to fall onto the subway platform, but the subway remained open despite the concerning problem above.
New Yorkers were quick to voice their opinions when news of the issue broke, with one telling NY1, “I would worry that someone would fall for it.”
While the damage didn’t appear to be as severe as the Soho incident in Casey’s TikTok, there is cause for concern.
Rusty pipes and dripping water were just part of the subterranean world of a New York City sidewalk. It also showed an incredible amount of dirt and concrete that may be unstable
If there was a subway station under the sidewalk, the debris Casey stepped on would probably fall onto the platform.
Luckily there was nothing, but TikTokers did notice a noise under the sidewalk similar to what someone would hear in a grocery store.
One person asked: ‘Why does it sound like a supermarket in there? Who scans the messages in that hole?’
Another person said: ‘I work in a supermarket and it sounded exactly like our low temp freezer/cooler alarm. although I heard things for a minute lol.”