Gothamist77%

Woman dies after falling down Con Edison manhole in Midtown, police say 27%

By Brittany Kriegstein66%

5/19/2026, 4:48:53 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 9 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Appeal to Authority, and Anchoring Bias, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 20% saturation with 46 hits. Analysis detected 249 faulty-reasoning hits from 230 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 38.3% and a BS Rank of 27% (16,089 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 73.50% of the article peer group.

A woman died after falling about 10 feet down an open Con Edison manhole in Midtown on Monday night, NYPD officials said. 
Police said the 56-year-old appeared to have parked her car near the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 52nd Street, got out and plummeted down the manhole. 
Officers were called to the scene around 11:15 p.m. and found her unconscious, according to officials. 
First responders took the woman to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, police said. 
The NYPD did not immediately release her identity as it worked to notify her family. 
Officials said they were still investigating why the manhole was uncovered. 
They said no construction was happening at the intersection at the time, and the manhole cover was discovered about 15 feet away from the opening. 
Con Ed spokesperson Elisabeth Ferrari said the utility company was “actively investigating” how the woman fell into one of its manholes. 
“We are deeply saddened to confirm that a member of the public has died after falling into an open manhole,” she said in a statement. 
“Our thoughts are with the individual’s family, and safety remains our top priority.” 
City medical examiners will determine the woman’s cause of death, according to police. 
This story is based on preliminary information from police and may be updated. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 10.9%Brittany Kriegstein: 3.5%Gothamist: 2.7%Confirmation Bias10.9%This article: 11.7%Brittany Kriegstein: 2.3%Gothamist: 1.5%Anchoring Bias11.7%This article: 9.6%Brittany Kriegstein: 4.4%Gothamist: 3.6%Availability Heuristic9.6%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 1.1%Gothamist: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 1.1%Gothamist: 0.7%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.7%Gothamist: 1.2%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 8.9%Gothamist: 8.4%Framing Effect0.0%This article: 5.7%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.8%Gothamist: 1.2%Loss Aversion5.7%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.8%Gothamist: 1.1%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.3%Gothamist: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 3.2%Gothamist: 3.6%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.7%Gothamist: 1.7%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 18.3%Brittany Kriegstein: 9.1%Gothamist: 8.5%Negativity Bias18.3%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 1.0%Gothamist: 2.6%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.8%Gothamist: 1.0%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.6%Gothamist: 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 1.6%Gothamist: 2.1%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.4%Gothamist: 0.6%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 2.8%Gothamist: 2.1%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.1%Gothamist: 0.2%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.0%Gothamist: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 1.6%Gothamist: 1.3%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.3%Gothamist: 0.4%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.1%Gothamist: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.2%Gothamist: 1.0%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.1%Gothamist: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 14.8%Brittany Kriegstein: 5.0%Gothamist: 4.4%Appeal to Authority14.8%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.6%Gothamist: 1.2%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.0%Gothamist: 0.8%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.0%Gothamist: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 4.1%Gothamist: 3.8%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.4%Gothamist: 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.4%Gothamist: 0.8%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 20.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 6.4%Gothamist: 6.4%Appeal to Emotion20.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.2%Gothamist: 0.7%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 1.8%Gothamist: 2.4%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.0%Gothamist: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.4%Gothamist: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.0%Gothamist: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.2%Gothamist: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 3.2%Gothamist: 2.8%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.1%Gothamist: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 11.7%Brittany Kriegstein: 1.6%Gothamist: 1.3%Ambiguity (Equivocation)11.7%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.0%Gothamist: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.1%Gothamist: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.3%Gothamist: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.0%Gothamist: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.0%Gothamist: 0.2%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 1.5%Gothamist: 1.2%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.9%Gothamist: 1.0%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 5.7%Brittany Kriegstein: 5.8%Gothamist: 3.2%Biased Writer Voice5.7%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 1.5%Gothamist: 1.5%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.4%Gothamist: 1.0%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 0.1%Gothamist: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Brittany Kriegstein: 1.0%Gothamist: 1.0%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

230 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers32%attributed speech156writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 0.0% coverageNYPD • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageElisabeth Ferrari • 21 words • 0.0% coverageElisabeth Ferrari • 25 words • 0.0% coverageElisabeth Ferrari • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Elisabeth Ferrari

100%flagged-word coverage
59 attributed words80% of attributed speech75% writer coverage
0%5.0%10.0%Biased Writer Voice-8.3 ptsWriter: 8.3%Elisabeth Ferrari: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.