Elderly woman hospitalized after tripping and falling on a pothole on 5th Avenue
A woman is recovering in the hospital after she tripped and fell into a pothole in Oakland.
The owner of a local pizza shop saw the whole thing happen and now he's calling for something to be done.
It all happened in an area of 5th Avenue where the road and the sidewalks are riddled with potholes and as for the one that was involved in this incident, it was right a sidewalk's edge and sat about a half of a finger deep.
As students and others traverse the very busy part of 5th Avenue, they dodge loose rocks, crevasses, and full-blown holes.
About 24 hours ago, emergency responders were on the scene after an elderly woman reportedly had fallen into a pothole. More likely, her foot became entangled in the mess all over the crosswalk and down she went with eyewitnesses saying she had a large amount of blood on her face. She was taken to the hospital as a result.
Sciulli's Pizza has sat in that same area for more than 40 years and the owner and employees watched much of the event unfold.
"It's a disgrace," said owner Luciano Sciulli. "This is 5th Avenue in Oakland and while they're building $100 million buildings, you should be able to cross the street without falling like that elderly lady did yesterday."
Sciulli said he files complaints with the city often and in response they usually get quick fixes. In this case, all that's known is that the woman is elderly and was taken to the hospital. A day later, she remains hospitalized.
"It was only a matter of time because as you look across the street, that's been there for over a year," Sciulli said. "Nothing changes here."
In the meantime, the cold weather continues, so does the construction, and the pothole problems continue to grow.
Just like Sciulli, local business owners in the area said it's just more of the same.
