Two concerned bystanders called 911 to report open manholes two weeks ago near the same intersection where Westchester mom Donike Gocaj fatally fell into an uncovered hatch.
Rhonda Roland Shearer, an artist and nonprofit founder, told The Post on Wednesday that she spotted a dangerously ajar manhole cover along Fifth Avenue on May 3 while walking from nearby St. Thomas Church.
She called 911 to request that the FDNY cover the hole, but was shocked to learn about Gocaj’s horrific death around the corner just weeks later on Monday night.
“I said, ‘Oh my God this in great likelihood the same cover. Or multiple covers in the same area,” she said.
Gocaj, 56, plunged into an open manhole around 11:20 p.m. after stepping from her SUV parked along East 52nd Street, around the corner from where Shearer spotted a similar hazard.
A witness said Gocaj “dropped” into the steaming-hot 10-foot-deep hole and hauntingly screamed “I’m dying” as bystanders frantically tried to reach her
She died of what the city’s medical examiner ruled Wednesday were scald burns with thermal injuries from breathing in hot air or steam, along with blunt force trauma to her torso.
Gocaj’s death is exactly what Shearer hoped her 911 call would help avert.
“People were just walking by. Immediately, the grandmother in me thought this is very, very dangerous,” she said.
Shearer’s son Jade Allen, who also ambled from St. Thomas that afternoon, said the manhole cover stuck partially open at a 45-degree angle.
He too felt Gocaj’s death could have been avoided.
“A lot of people don’t want to fall into a pit to their death,” he said. “I just felt bad for her and her family. I feel like it’s something that could have been corrected.”
One day after the mother and son spotted the manhole cover, another bystander placed a 311 call to report another skewed or missing lid, sources said.
The caller was transferred to 911, prompting cops to respond and put the cover back on, the sources said.
Shearer said she reached out police in Briafcliff Manor, where Gocaj lived, to connect with the devoted mom’s family in case they pursue a lawsuit.
Shearer said she reached out police in Briarcliff Manor, where Gocaj lived, to connect with the devoted mom’s family in case they pursue a lawsuit against Con Edison.
“The bottom line is this poor woman was tortured in her last moments in life and that is just horrifying,” Shearer said.
— Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan
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