A Tulsa man who went for a run in an area park stepped in an irrigation valve box and injured himself and later took to social media after the box remained broken a month later.
"So, this is the irrigation valve box that I stepped down into about a month ago. Broken and severely injured my shin," said Brett Roper, narrating a video shot on his iPhone one month after his fall, which was reported on by the local ABC affiliate.
Roper said he was running in Riverside Park when he stumbled into the damaged and unmarked valve box.
A month after the incident, Roper found the box had not been repaired even after he’d called 311 and been given a case number.
"The message never got to us. Sometimes people contact the city's 311 system, and generally, they forward those messages to us," said Matt Meyer, director of the River Parks Authority.
Roper said he’s frustrated by the inaction.
"It's definitely a public hazard; it's dangerous, right on the River Park Trails. I just want to put the lid on it, I'm going to go ahead and fix it because they evidently didn't, but you can see the lid is still damaged," said Roper in the video as he put a nearby cover on top of the open hole.
Meyer says a lack of resources and staffing limits what his team can do.
"We only have six people, and we have 26 miles of trail. Six outdoor people,” Meyer said. “So, we don't see everything, so if you see an issue, contact us in those ways I mentioned, and we'll take care of it as soon as we can.
