News September 13 2025 by Corey Robinson - Senior Staff Reporter

ONE STEP FROM DISASTER

Updated December 9 2025 5 min read

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Dorey McPherson awaiting the arrival of firefighters to free her trapped leg after several failed efforts by passers-by who rushed to her aid.
Dorey McPherson still suffers from the injuries she sustained last December when she fell into a collapsed drain.
This open drain along a section of Slipe Pen Road, near the National Blood Bank in Kingston, is a threat to pedestrians.
Trees growing out of open drains along Slipe Pen Road in Kingston.
Holes in another section of the sidewalk along Slipe Pen Road.
Pedestrians were forced to walk in the streets along Rosemary Lane in Morant Bay, St Thomas, last week because of missing drain covers.
Open drains in the sidewalk along the Paul Bogle Highway in Morant Bay, St Thomas.
Market vendor Dorey McPherson shows the yet-to-be-repaired drain in which she injured her leg inside the Morant Bay Market last December.

For over 30 years, Dorey McPherson sold goods at the Morant Bay Market in St Thomas, stepping countless times on the deteriorating manhole cover beside her stall – always without incident. But last December, her luck ran out. The cover gave way under her weight, plunging her leg into the drain below and sending her face slamming into a nearby chair. Her world went black, her face heavy, as blood gushed from a cut above her eye. Disoriented and embarrassed, she tried to stand – only to realise her leg was still wedged between the rusting metal grilles. Panic set in.