By Cassia Soodak
Late on Friday, November 30th, an unidentified man proposed to a woman; shortly after, the ring was dropped down a sidewalk grate in Times Square. The Washington Post reported that he proposed near the Olive Garden in Times Square, turning a dirty street into a romantic scene, as the NYPD believed the woman said yes. The story should have ended here, with a fairytale-like “happily ever after.” However, the NYPD, using surveillance footage, reported that the “unidentified man fumbled the engagement ring,” and dropped it down an eight foot utility grate.
The clumsiness of the man ultimately got in the way of his intended romance. The video released by the NYPD shows the couple looking down the grate in complete distress. The man even lay down on the dirty ground of Times Square to search for it. Soon, the newly engaged couple realized they could not get the ring themselves. They resorted to getting help from the police in the area. Unfortunately, neither the couple nor the police could get the ring back late Friday night, so the couple left the scene. However, the police revisited the Times Square utility grate the next morning. The Washington Post explained that the NYPD “removed the grate and recovered the ring.”
Again, this is where the story should have ended- with another happily ever after. However, weirdly enough, the couple decided not to (or forgot to) file a police report or leave their contact information when they left Times Square that Friday night.
The police were left with a ring and small descriptor of the couple from the security tape. That was it. So, they decided to launch a social media campaign, where they posted the surveillance video and shared that they found the ring, in the hopes that the couple would see it and report back.
By Saturday, 30,000 people had retweeted the video, according to The Washington Post. Some were in support, telling New Yorkers to help find the ring and asking others: “Any wealthy romantics in the Twitterverse who can spring for another ring for these folks?” (@maglgov). Others made puns, such as “Grate proposal 💍” (@NautiYachty).
Some were even suspicious and confused. One user stated: “I don’t even walk over grates for fear of falling in, who in their right mind would do this at that location??” (@suebrue), while another stated: “Yes but they were in times square to begin with, that was their fatal flaw.” (@EFinnn).
Twitter users also went on to comment stories they had similar to this one, such as “This reminds me of that time I dropped my phone in the grate, but was able to independently retrieve it using several coat hangers wrapped in sticky tape.” (@JTillman_) and “I can totally relate. My poor husband slipped, fell and broke his arm two minutes after he proposed…” (@PersianRose1). These are only a few highlighted comments that were posted onto the NYPD’s Twitter. Many more Twitter users commented, liked and shared the post, allowing NYPD’s search to be popularized “talk” in the social media universe.
Altogether, it took one day to find the rightful owner. The NYPD launched the campaign on December 1st, and by December 2nd, a Twitter user by the handle @Daniell09311533, created by the ring’s rightful owner for the purpose of reclaiming the ring, had tweeted: “Thank you so much @NYPDnews and everyone for sharing and reuniting me with my ring! The proposal was in Central Park and fell off over the drain! Thought was gone forever! Can’t thank officers enough!❤” Her tweet got 151 replies, 726 retweets, and 5,944 likes.
Social Media had found the ring!
According to The Washington Post, the couple, John Drennan, age 36, and Daniella Anthony, age 34, were actually from the United Kingdom. The Washington Post corrected their original story, explaining the couple actually proposed in Central Park, not a dirty block in Times Square. Additionally, it wasn’t the clumsiness of the groom that caused the ring to be lost, but instead the ring was too big for her finger, causing it to slip off Daniella’s finger into the grate.
Not only did the ring return to its rightful owners, but the couple was also invited back to New York City to be on The Ellen Degeneres Show on December 13th. On the show, John explained that their friend had seen the NYPD’s viral and frantic search and had asked them ‘Is this you guys?’, which led to the recovery of the ring.
The groom also re-proposed on the show with the original ring. According to the New York Times, they plan on marrying in 2020.
Finally, the couple had their happily ever after, after all.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/nyregion/engagement-ring-found-grate-nyc.htmlhttps://www.msn.com/en-xl/northamerica/northamerica-top-stories/second-times-a-charm-british-man-who-lost-engagement-ring-down-a-times-square-grate-proposes-to-his-fiancee-again-on-the-ellen-show-after-nypd-officers-reunited-them-with-the-band/ar-BBQUEim?li=BBJDXDP
https://twitter.com/NYPDnews/status/1068987739478130688
Image: https://blog.lrei.org/knightlynews/files/2019/01/Dtbx5kzUcAApmGE_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwQ40NZzMzMoMNeFa8NnNtcQ-1vbm8g8.jpg