bloodrayne
09-04-2004, 07:26 AM
Search For Fetus In Sewage Pipeline Proves Futile
City workers found a 12-week-old fetus in a sewage line along San Pedro Street near 26th Street on Thursday. Police said the fetus likely came from a toilet in a neighborhood home.
Austin Fire Department rescue workers spent more than two hours searching a West Campus manhole Thursday afternoon for a 12-week-old fetus stuck in a sewage line. The workers gave up their search when they could no longer find the fetus in the pipe.
The fetus was discovered by city workers examining an 8-inch-wide sewage line that extends along San Pedro Street in West Campus, near 26th Street. The fetus could have come from "any number of houses or apartments that dump into" the sewage line, said Austin Police Department spokesman Justin Newsom.
Police said there would be no way to determine where the fetus came from or how long it had been in the pipe. It most likely came from a toilet inside someone's home because the pipe was closed and not accessible from the manhole until Thursday, according to police and fire department officials.
No criminal charges will be pressed because a medical examiner on the scene determined the fetus probably would not have been able to live outside the womb.
"Abortion is not a crime; it could have been a miscarriage," Newsom said.
Two men in silver suits and oxygen tanks from AFD's special operations unit took turns entering the 3-foot-by-6-foot manhole with a robotic camera. The men ran water through the pipe in an attempt to push the fetus out so a medical examiner could take it back to a lab and determine whether or not it could have lived outside the womb.
Based on what a medical examiner saw on the camera screen, it would not have lived.
The unit gave up the search when they couldn't relocate the fetus after examining it once with a camera. It was located approximately 80 feet down the pipe, said AFD Battalion Chief Bruce Taylor.
"We just needed to confirm it, and unfortunately, we were not able to," he said.
Newsom said they tried to locate the fetus using the camera a second time, but a combination of water movement and pressure from the camera might have dislodged it.
"It could have washed on by," Newsom said.
City workers discovered the fetus with the robotic camera while inspecting the sewage line after installing a new one about a month ago, Newsom said.
The camera consisted of a probe and a golf ball that floats in front of it, Newsom said. The probe rolled over something that at first was thought to be debris, he said. The workers then made another inspection to determine what it was.
"When they watched that time [the fetus] rolled, and you could see what appeared to be the face of a fetus," Newsom said. "The head of that fetus is approximately the same size as that golf ball attached to the probe."
Newsom said this was the "first I've ever heard," of a fetus discovered inside an Austin sewage pipe.
AFD was called to the scene around 1:30 p.m. Rumors circulated that a child had accidentally fallen into a manhole and UT students, as well as at least eight news camera crews, milled about during the workers' inspection. No one was allowed to pass by the manhole until rescue crews were done.
City workers found a 12-week-old fetus in a sewage line along San Pedro Street near 26th Street on Thursday. Police said the fetus likely came from a toilet in a neighborhood home.
Austin Fire Department rescue workers spent more than two hours searching a West Campus manhole Thursday afternoon for a 12-week-old fetus stuck in a sewage line. The workers gave up their search when they could no longer find the fetus in the pipe.
The fetus was discovered by city workers examining an 8-inch-wide sewage line that extends along San Pedro Street in West Campus, near 26th Street. The fetus could have come from "any number of houses or apartments that dump into" the sewage line, said Austin Police Department spokesman Justin Newsom.
Police said there would be no way to determine where the fetus came from or how long it had been in the pipe. It most likely came from a toilet inside someone's home because the pipe was closed and not accessible from the manhole until Thursday, according to police and fire department officials.
No criminal charges will be pressed because a medical examiner on the scene determined the fetus probably would not have been able to live outside the womb.
"Abortion is not a crime; it could have been a miscarriage," Newsom said.
Two men in silver suits and oxygen tanks from AFD's special operations unit took turns entering the 3-foot-by-6-foot manhole with a robotic camera. The men ran water through the pipe in an attempt to push the fetus out so a medical examiner could take it back to a lab and determine whether or not it could have lived outside the womb.
Based on what a medical examiner saw on the camera screen, it would not have lived.
The unit gave up the search when they couldn't relocate the fetus after examining it once with a camera. It was located approximately 80 feet down the pipe, said AFD Battalion Chief Bruce Taylor.
"We just needed to confirm it, and unfortunately, we were not able to," he said.
Newsom said they tried to locate the fetus using the camera a second time, but a combination of water movement and pressure from the camera might have dislodged it.
"It could have washed on by," Newsom said.
City workers discovered the fetus with the robotic camera while inspecting the sewage line after installing a new one about a month ago, Newsom said.
The camera consisted of a probe and a golf ball that floats in front of it, Newsom said. The probe rolled over something that at first was thought to be debris, he said. The workers then made another inspection to determine what it was.
"When they watched that time [the fetus] rolled, and you could see what appeared to be the face of a fetus," Newsom said. "The head of that fetus is approximately the same size as that golf ball attached to the probe."
Newsom said this was the "first I've ever heard," of a fetus discovered inside an Austin sewage pipe.
AFD was called to the scene around 1:30 p.m. Rumors circulated that a child had accidentally fallen into a manhole and UT students, as well as at least eight news camera crews, milled about during the workers' inspection. No one was allowed to pass by the manhole until rescue crews were done.