June 5 (UPI) — A Philadelphia couple who unsuccessfully tried to fish a lost wedding ring out of a sidewalk grate said police and a utility worker came to their rescue.
Steve Brown said he was walking with his wife, Erin, on Friday night when his wedding ring, a family heirloom that belonged to his grandfather, slipped off his finger and rolled into a sidewalk grate in front of the Marriott hotel in the Center City neighborhood.
The couple attempted to contact city departments the following day, but they discovered they were all closed. The Browns went to Home Depot and made a makeshift fishing pole to attempt to find the ring in what Erin Brown described on Twitter as “a lovely pile of trash” inside the 15-foot-deep grate.
The Browns said they spotted a ring after about two hours of searching and a half hour later they were able to hook the item, only to find it was a different ring.
“We were so disappointed because we truly thought that we had it,” Steve Brown told WPVI-TV.
The couple’s fishing attempts attracted a crowd of onlookers, which eventually included a Philadelphia police officer.
The officer made some calls and was able to summon a PECO utility worker, who was able to open the grate and venture inside.
The man, who the Browns described as their “knight in shining armor,” located the ring after about an hour of searching.
“He leaned down, picked it up, and sent it back up through the grate with our hook since he was nervous that he would drop the ring as he climbed back out,” Steve Brown said.
“We all cheered- the cab drivers, the tourists on the street, and Philly cops who had come just to watch how this was going to end,” Erin Brown said.
Steve Brown said he plans to get the ring resized as soon as possible to prevent future incidents.
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