Des Moines woman injured after falling into hole on downtown sidewalk

DES MOINES, Iowa – A pedestrian is considering legal action after a lunch-hour walk led to injuries.

Shelley Renes is an attendance clerk at Des Moines Public Schools’ Central Campus, who often gets fresh air with a coworker over their lunch hour.  “We always head down to the Sculpture Park and walk the same path, never mix it up,” Renes explained.

But last week, something unexpected happened on that walk when Renes fell into what she thought was a manhole. “You’re just walking, you know, you see them on there and you think nothing of it and you’re just walking along,” Renes recalls. “And I stepped in, the left leg down in went, and I caught myself with my hands, and slammed this side down on the concrete.”

The hole Renes is talking about is located on the sidewalk near Grand Avenue and 18th Street, down the street from Central Campus. Renes has pictures of what the hole looked like after she fell into it, with the cover off and wires wrapped around her foot.

“It just was not secured,” Renes explained.

Other pictures showed what it looked like ten minutes later with a singular cone on top and the next day, marked off with cones and an added concrete border.  There are nearby construction projects, but Renes said there were no visible warnings the day she walked over it.

Renes said the construction crew on site told her the handhole on the sidewalk belonged to MidAmerican Energy.

Geoff Greenwood, media relations manager with MidAmerican Energy Company, sent the following statement: “Safety is MidAmerican’s top priority and we’re sorry to learn that someone may have been injured while walking over this newly installed maintenance cover. The metal cover protects a below-ground, shallow streetlight wiring enclosure. We are gathering information to determine how the cover was installed and any circumstances that may have contributed to the incident. This appears to be an isolated issue, and we don’t have any indication that there is a systemic problem with other similar covers. A third-party contractor has Since addressed the issue to ensure this location is safe for those who use the sidewalk.”

Renes is now left with a sprained knee and wrist.

“I am incurring medical bills that I feel aren’t my responsibility,” Renes said, “So I reached out and I do now have legal representation.” As well as frustration, she says the situation could’ve been avoided. “Just sheer negligence on whoever was responsible for that jobsite that day should have made sure it was secured,” Renes said, “And if it was broken, mark it off like they had now.”

She is thankful, though, what happened to her didn’t happen to a student.

“I’m just glad it was me and not somebody smaller or older,” Renes said. “I’m going to be able to bounce back from this, but somebody else could have been injured worse.”

Renes is recovering and working with her legal team to figure out her next moves.

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