This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/nyregion/engagement-ring-found-grate-nyc.html

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Found: Lovebirds Who Lost an Engagement Ring Down a Times Square Grate Found: Lovebirds Who Lost an Engagement Ring Down a Times Square Grate
(about 2 hours later)
[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.][What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]
He liked it, so he put a ring on it. But the engagement ring a tourist gave his fiancée was apparently too big, fell off and slipped down a utility grate in Times Square late Friday, the police said. He liked it, so he put a ring on it.
The couple walked away as the police searched for the dazzler, but by early Sunday afternoon the groom had called to claim the bauble after the police announced they had retrieved it — and had initiated a social media search for the hapless couple. But it was too big and it slipped off, disappearing Friday night into the abyss of a Times Square sidewalk grate, mere hours after a romantic New York City wedding proposal.
By then, the couple had already returned to the United Kingdom. The groom, a tourist from England, was convinced it was gone for good. (So convinced that he had already bought a second ring after the couple’s return flight touched down early Sunday morning.)
“Hey, it’s me,” the groom said in a call to the CrimeStoppers hotline, according to Sgt. Lee Jones, a police spokesman. A woman who said she is the bride-to-be on social media could not immediately be reached for comment on Sunday. But what happened next will surely be the fairy-tale stuff of family lore.
The groom proposed on Friday in Central Park, and the ring slipped off later that night as they walked past 2 Times Square, the police said. The couple, who had gotten engaged in Central Park, flagged down a police officer to report the ring mishap, after trying in vain to recover it on their own. But after waiting for about an hour, the couple walked away — without leaving their names — as the police continued to search for the diamond-and-platinum dazzler.
By Sunday, a social media manhunt that would have made Cinderella blush was underway for the couple. The ensuing search for the ring by the New York Police Department involved the Emergency Service Unit, Special Operation officers — and a shift change.
A video the police posted on Twitter on Saturday showed the couple searching in vain for the ring. The man, tall in a blue-toned blazer, dark pants and a paperboy hat, got down on his belly and peered through the grate, apparently hoping to catch sight of the ring underground. His fiancée, in a short jacket and heels, slipped her hair behind her ears and squatted next to him. By about 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, the police had reported mission accomplished, and then initiated a social media search for the hapless couple that would have made Cinderella blush.
The police post on Twitter led readers to believe the groom had proposed in Times Square. Some users sympathized with the choice, noting its bright lights and status as the Crossroads of the World. By that point, the couple, John Drennan and Daniella Anthony, had already returned to the United Kingdom, where they purchased another ring shortly after landing, the groom-to-be said in an interview on Sunday.
“We’re absolutely ecstatic,” Mr. Drennan said. “We just cannot believe it.”
“I just thought it was gone forever,” added his fiancée, Daniella Anthony.
Grates are ubiquitous sidewalk features in New York, where they act as a morgue of sorts for untold numbers of personal items, like keys and phones. (Occasionally, they swallow people.)
Most items are never reunited with their owners, but the police said they will soon return Ms. Anthony’s ring to her.
Mr. Drennan, 36, said they did not file a police report because they never believed the ring would be found.
Mr. Drennan had proposed to Ms. Anthony, 34, earlier on Friday, a day after their 10th anniversary together. As she snapped pictures of a lake in Central Park, he got down on one knee. He asked her to marry him, and she said yes.
After the proposal, the couple, who live in Peterborough but met while working in Australia, went to dinner and later watched The Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. As they walked past 2 Times Square, headed back to their hotel, the ring suddenly slipped off, they said. It bounced around before tumbling through the grate.
Ms. Anthony said she felt sick.
“I was devastated,” she said. “I was literally crying. It was the worst moment of my life.”
Strangers stopped to offer help and assurances as the police tried to locate the ring. Ms. Anthony said she was moved by a young girl with Down syndrome, who hugged her and said she loved her. The strangers’ warmth helped the couple to walk away without finding the ring, Mr. Drennan said.
“It’s important, but it’s a symbol of love,” he said of the ring.
But the love itself is far more valuable, he said. “When you have something so beautiful like that,” he said, “it just puts everything in perspective.”
The couple had planned to keep the lost ring a secret, so as not to taint the occasion for their friends and family. But Mr. Drennan said a friend forwarded him the police Twitter message and asked, “Is this for real?”
The message contained a video showing the couple searching in vain for the ring before help arrives. The man, tall in a blue-toned blazer, dark pants and a paperboy hat, got down on his belly and peered through the grate, apparently hoping to catch sight of the ring underground. His fiancée, in a short jacket and heels, slipped her hair behind her ears and squatted next to him.
Mr. Drennan called the tips hotline on Sunday, and spent hours on the phone answering questions from detectives to confirm the ring was his. The police confirmed that he had also submitted a photo, which investigators used to verify his identity with the officers who initially responded to the call for help.
The police post on Twitter led some readers to believe Mr. Drennan had proposed in Times Square. Some Twitter users sympathized with the choice, noting its bright lights and status as the Crossroads of the World.
But many struggled to understand why anyone would propose over a grate. “Love is blind,” one user suggested. Others noted that on frigid nights like Friday, the grates are a source of heat.But many struggled to understand why anyone would propose over a grate. “Love is blind,” one user suggested. Others noted that on frigid nights like Friday, the grates are a source of heat.
Others were puzzled as to why the couple did not file a lost property report. “I don’t think it’s done me any good with my street credit, the number of comments calling me a chump,” Mr. Drennan said jokingly. “I’ll take that every day of the week to get this outcome.”
Grates are ubiquitous sidewalk features in New York, where they act as a morgue of sorts for untold numbers of personal items, like keys and phones. The items often end up orphaned inside the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s property unit, with scores of other belongings that are left on the subway. Many people have shared stories of loss, and some people have even taken to fishing items out of the grates’ latticework. The items lost in grates often end up orphaned inside the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s property unit along with scores of other belongings that are left on the subway. Many people have shared stories of loss, and some people have even taken to fishing items out of the grates’ latticework.
After the ring tumbled, the couple flagged down police officers, who brought in comrades from the Emergency Service Unit. But the couple walked away after about an hour of searching. The officers on duty Friday night into Saturday continued searching for the ring after a shift change, and luck struck around 10:30 a.m., when Special Operations officers unearthed it. Later in the day, the police even posted a picture of the band with its round diamond in the center. Six smaller diamonds cascade along each side.
Officers continued searching for the ring after a shift change, and luck struck around 10:30 a.m., when Special Operations officers unearthed it. Later in the day, the police posted a picture of the silver-colored band with a round diamond-like stone in the center. Six smaller stones cascade along each side. Mr. Drennan had purchased the ring from Fraser Hart in England, where the couple returned on Sunday to buy another ring. The first had cost several thousand dollars, Mr. Drennan said, and was not insured.
Officials were not able to provide specifics about the ring because they did not have it appraised by a jeweler, Sergeant Jones said.
A Twitter user quipped, “I hope the couple is grate-ful.”A Twitter user quipped, “I hope the couple is grate-ful.”
The couple said they plan to return one of the rings and have the other resized. Perhaps, Mr. Drennan said, they’ll use the refund money to return to New York and buy a round for the officers who went “above and beyond” to save it.
“That would never happen anywhere else in the world,” Mr. Drennan said. “It’s just incredible.”